Rubio says steps agreed to end Syria fighting - Region
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was an agreement to restore calm in Syria by late Wednesday, as he blamed misunderstandings over violence that included Israeli strikes on its neighbour's capital."We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight," Rubio wrote on X.
"This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made, and this is what we fully expect them to do," he wrote, without elaborating on the nature of the agreement.
Rubio, who had earlier said to expect "real progress" within hours, blamed "historic longtime rivalries" for the clashes in the majority-Druze city of Sweida, which Israel has cited for its latest military intervention.
"It led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side," Rubio told reporters in the White House of the situation, which has included Israel bombing the Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus, killing at least on person.
"We've been engaged with them all morning long and all night long -- with both sides -- and we think we're on our way towards a real deescalation and then hopefully get back on track and helping Syria build the country and arriving at a situation in the Middle East that is far more stable," Rubio, who is also national security advisor, said as Trump nodded.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, speaking shortly before Rubio announced a deal, said that the United States had asked Syrian government forces to pull out of the flashpoint area.
"We are calling on the Syrian government to, in fact, withdraw their military to enable all sides to de-escalate and find a path forward," she told reporters, without specifying the exact area.
She declined to comment on whether the United States wanted Israel to stop its strikes or to withdraw from Syrian territories it has occupied.
Rubio, asked by a reporter earlier in the day at the State Department what he thought of Israel's bombing, said, "We're very concerned about it. We want it to stop."
The State Department afterwards issued fuller comments in which Rubio did not directly reference Israel but said that the communal violence was a "direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria."
"We have been and remain in repeated and constant talks with the governments of Syria and Israel on this matter," he said
Trump has staunchly backed Israel, including in its genocidal war on Gaza and attacks on Iran.
But he has been prioritising diplomacy with Syria's new leadership, seeing an opening after Islamist-led fighters toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
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