Kerry: Obama 'Intent' on Upholding US-Russia Agreement in Syria

US President Obama is ready to back Washington's side of the new Syrian ceasefire deal, Secretary of State John Kerry said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama is ready to uphold Washington’s side of the US-Russian brokered ceasefire deal in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview on Wednesday.

"It is very clear to me that the President [Obama] is intent on upholding our part of the bargain, which is, that if they [Russia] are going to see to it that [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s air force is not flying anywhere our opposition is, we have to help in the fight against terrorism," Kerry told NPR radio station.

Kerry was responding to a comment made by US Air Forces Central Command commander Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian at a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday.

When asked, Harrigian said it would be premature to say whether the US military would begin cooperating with Russia immediately following seven days of reduced violence and humanitarian access in Syria. The commander explained that the timing would depend on what the plan entailed.

Subsequent US media reports on Tuesday suggested that the Pentagon was not prepared to uphold the deal.

Kerry stressed that Obama is ready, "and I think the [US] military, therefore, will be ready."

If the ceasefire, which went into effect Monday at sunset, is successfully maintained, the United States and Russia will begin coordinating anti-terrorism activities against Daesh and al-Nusra Front in Syria, the two sides have said.