A geographically limited ceasefire agreement is proposed in in Syria.
What is the agreement?
Russians is in support of the regime forces.
U.S. and Jordan are in support of the opposition rebels.
An agreement was reached by the U.S, Russia and Jordan.
It seeks to enforce a ceasefire and deliver humanitarian assistance in southwest Syria.
Why it could succeed?
The southwest of Syria is considered to be a more manageable part.
There is an overlap of Russian and American views on Syria.
So U.S. hopes that this could be the beginning of an extensive cessation of conflict across the country.
What are the challenges?
Syria is a very complicated battle space and there are a lot of spoilers on the ground.
There are jihadis from al-Qaida and from Daesh (Islamic State) even in southwest Syria.
Though they are smaller in number, they may have a vested interested in spoiling the ceasefire.
There is also internal wrangling within U.S. agencies.
The State Department and the Pentagon were not on the same page.
While then Secretary of State was negotiating a ceasefire agreement a U.S.-led air campaign bombed a convoy of Syrian soldiers.
Also Trump administration is more combative towards Iran.
Even if the ceasefire holds good in the southwest, that still is no guarantee that it could be easily replicated elsewhere in the country as circumstances in other parts of the country are dramatically different.
