US Secretary of State John Kerry took a more cautionary position regarding peace efforts to end the Syrian Civil War on Friday when he met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
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The top U.S. and Russian diplomats make clear they have yet to overcome differences on a Syrian ceasefire plan, but both Kerry and Lavrov say a solution is very near.
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the comments after the marathon talks at a luxury hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva. “The Kurds must continue being part of the Syrian state”, said Sergey Lavrov, Russian FM.
“Those meetings taking place outside of this (UN) office here in Geneva are going to have an impact certainly on the way we will be (working) and I plan to present what are the political initiatives of the U.N.in order to relaunch the political process on Syria”, de Mistura said. The focus was on ironing out details on how to address cease-fire violations by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as well as the rise of a rebel group linked to al-Qaeda that has mingled with opposition groups backed by the U.S.
Kerry said that both countries have arrived at some clarity on the path forward.
De Mistura also wants immediate agreement on a complete, 48-hour pause in fighting in the divided city of Aleppo, where rebels and the government have blocked each other’s access routes to humanitarian aid for more than a million civilians stranded under brutal air and ground fire. Under that overture, first revealed by the Washington Post last month, Russian Federation would use its influence to persuade Assad to ground his air force and uphold a ceasefire.
Expectations had been low for the talks, particularly given how efforts to forge a new US-Russia understanding have fallen short virtually every month for the past five years. Different from the United States, Russia is coordinating the actions by its air force against the terrorist groups with the Syrian Government.
In the days ahead the technical teams, which include USA and Russian military and intelligence experts, will try to figure out ways to separate the opposition groups, backed by the USA and Gulf Arab countries, from the jihadis. Just last week the US had to call for Russian help when Syrian warplanes struck in an area not far from where USA troops were operating on the ground.
At the same time, the Obama administration is not of one mind regarding the Russians.
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Lavrov said the Daraya surrender is “an example I think will get some following”.
