UN Peace Envoy Welcomes US-Russia Accord on Syria

Says it is "only a first step"

DAMASCUS (AFP) - UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hailed on Wednesday a US-Russia accord to push both sides in the Syrian conflict to end the bloodshed, but cautioned that it was "only a first step."

The deal came after lengthy talks in Moscow between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

"This is the first hopeful news concerning that unhappy country in a very long time," Brahimi said in a statement.