WASHINGTON — Even as President Donald Trump reluctantly signed new Russia sanctions into law this month, US officials expressed growing confidence that cooperation with Moscow on a Syria cease-fire is working. They believe the success of a deal in southwest Syria, negotiated by the United States, Russia and Jordan and announced last month, could prove a model for broader US-Russia cooperation on an interim stabilization plan after the defeat of the Islamic State (IS).
“Despite all of our tensions with Russia, we also look for areas where we have to find a way to work together, and I think Syria exemplifies that,” Brett McGurk, the US envoy in the coalition to defeat IS, told journalists at the State Department last week.
