International powers involved in the Syrian war agreed to next week implement what is being described as a ceasefire. Peace talks remain stalled for the time being, and meanwhile the Saudi and the United Arab Emirates are proposing troop deployments into Syria with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter supporting the proposal. The news comes as two new reports shed further light on the grisly outcome of the war thus far. The Syrian Center for Policy Research is saying 11.5 percent of the country has died in the past five years, which amounts to 470,000 people, a number almost double the UN official death toll of 250,000. And earlier this week the UN said that the Assad government has killed thousands of its prisoners, amounting to an extermination, as a crime against humanity.

Phyllis Bennis joins Sharmini Peries on The Real News Network to discuss what this latest deal made amongst outside powers means for the Syrian Civil War.

See the full interview transcript on the Real News Network’s website.