(Screenshot/YouTube)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and UN Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Major world powers taking part in a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed to implement a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced from Munich on Thursday.

The ISSG agreed that a cessation would be more "apt," as it does not carry the same "legal prerogatives" as a ceasefire, Kerry said.

"A ceasefire, in the minds of many participants, connotes something far more permanent," Kerry said in a news conference following the group's meeting. "A ceasefire signals an end of conflict. This plan is distinctly not that — rather, it is a pause that will be dependent on the process going forward."

But Kerry noted that, like a ceasefire, the plan aims to end hostile activities, while acts of self-defense are allowed. He added that the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad and the opposition "need to make their decision this week" about how they wish to proceed with negotiations.

"The International Syria Support Group took a different step this time from what has happened previously," Kerry said. "In Vienna and in New York we called for a ceasefire. Today we decided on a process, and a timeframe, and we all agreed to do everything we can to meet that."

(Institute for the Study of War)

When asked whether he thought a cessation of hostilities would cement Assad in power — given the recent battlefield gains the regime had made near Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with the help of Russian airstrikes — Kerry was candid.

"Yes, it is true that the bombing of the last few weeks, and the aggressive actions of the Assad regime — together with forces of other places and countries that have helped them — has made a difference for Assad," Kerry said.

"But that difference doesn't end the war," he added. "It doesn't mean Assad is safe or secure in the long term. ... Our belief is there will never be peace in Syria while President Assad is there. Others think differently."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not take kindly to Kerry's implication that Russia's actions on behalf of the Assad regime had been "aggressive."

"Liberating a city captured by illegal insurgent groups — is that an aggressive move? Well, maybe," Lavrov said. "But it's important to have offensives against forces that are occupying your country."

(REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail)
Stalls on a street beside damaged buildings in a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on February 10.