Devex: Ceasefire set for Eastern Ghouta, but humanitarian solution still out of reach
“A daily five-hour pause in fighting in the besieged area of Eastern Ghouta, Syria, starts on Tuesday. But a senior humanitarian adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières warns that the move is unlikely to create safe, adequate humanitarian conditions for the approximate 400,000 people who have been trapped in the Damascus suburb…” (Lieberman, 2/27).

Washington Post: Syria Cease-Fire Must Take Effect Immediately, U.N. Chief Warns
“As bombs continued to rain down on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta on Monday, the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, demanded that the Syria cease-fire resolution that the Security Council adopted unanimously over the weekend take effect immediately…” (Cumming-Bruce et al., 2/26).

Wall Street Journal: Russia Not Ready to Implement Cease-Fire in Syria, Official Says
“Russia said Monday it wasn’t prepared to implement a cease-fire in Syria endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, even as European and U.S. officials demanded an immediate end to the fighting. In a televised news conference, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there would be no quick end to the attacks on Eastern Ghouta near Damascus or in Idlib Province as Moscow supported the Syrian government’s bombing raids there, adding that all sides must first agree on how to implement the cease-fire so it ‘would be complete and full scale across all of Syria’…” (Norman et al., 2/26).

Washington Post: Putin orders ‘humanitarian pause’ in besieged Damascus suburb
“Russia said Monday that it had ordered a daily five-hour truce for a rebel-held enclave outside Damascus, even as a more extensive cease-fire approved by the U.N. Security Council this weekend has failed to quiet Syria’s warring parties. The ‘humanitarian pause’ ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of the Syrian government, appeared to be aimed at showcasing Russia’s influence as world powers scrambled to halt some of the worst bloodshed of Syria’s civil war…” (Cunningham/Troianovski, 2/26).