BRETT MCGURK:

Well, the cease-fire that was worked out in the southwest, I'm glad you asked about this.

It's a very important initiative, actually, and another example of how some decisions have been delegated down. Secretary Tillerson really asked us to get after this opportunity that had emerged in the southwest. And we have negotiated really over a period of months with Jordan. King Abdullah of Jordan was a key driver of this.

And with the Russians throughout that southwest corner of the country, very important corner of the country. It was a painstaking negotiation meter by meter mapping out what we call the line of contact between the Syrian regime forces and Syrian opposition forces.

And since then, we're well into the third week now. The fighting has virtually stopped. It's really — it's going quite well. And I think the reason this cease-fire is going quite well is because there was this really detailed negotiation about what we call this line of contact.

The Russians have deployed some of their military police on the northern side of that line really to deter violations from the Syrian regime. And so far, it's going well. We're seeing people return to their homes in this area. So, we want to make sure that trend line continues.

Now, the presence of the Iranian forces, Hezbollah, some of the militia forces down in that southwest corner of the country, is highly destabilizing. And that's not something that we only believe. It's also something the Russians believe.

So, part of this agreement, there is a broader aspect to it. This is something that was very well worked out. We want to see stability in that area, which means setting Hezbollah out of certain areas. It means getting some Iranian-backed forces out of certain areas. And that's something that we continue to work on.