The future of Russian-back Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was not part of the talks, discussions were focused on a political transition.
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Kerry said the Syrian regime “forced the surrender” of Daraya in contravention of the February cessation of hostilities agreement, but Lavrov said the local accord was an “example” that should be “replicated”.
Kerry said “we achieved clarity on the path forward” for a revamped cessation of hostilities, adding that the “vast majority” of technical obstacles to a cease-fire were cleared but some issues remained unresolved.
The U.S. and Russian Federation have also discussed a proposal under which Russian Federation would ground Syria’s air force in exchange for intelligence about Nusra’s location for coordinated air strikes.
Earlier this week, Samir Aita, a member of the Syrian Democratic Forum opposition party, told Sputnik that the United States should be pursuing practical cooperation with the Syrian regular army, just like Russian Federation has been pursuing practical cooperation with the armed opposition, in order for a lasting ceasefire to be achieved in Syria and for terrorists to be defeated.
He stressed though that “neither of us is (ready) to make an announcement that is predicated by failure – we don’t want to have a deal for the sake of a deal”. “Nusra is Al-Qaeda, and no name change by Nusra hides what Nusra really is and what it tries to do”. But equally high on the Turkish agenda was preventing USA -supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State from occupying Jarabulus and the surrounding border area.
At the same time, the Obama administration is not of one mind regarding the Russians.
With global organizations and aid groups citing an increasingly dire situation in the key northern city of Aleppo, one focus of the talks was how to suspend the fighting long enough to effectively deliver humanitarian aid.
In response, a Front-led offensive pushed through government lines to the city’s rebel south and is now attacking government-held western Aleppo.
After 12 hours of negotiations, in which United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura began to participate yesterday, Lavrov and Kerry announced that to reach the agreement, it was just necessary to determine very few issues.
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But rebel groups have yet to agree to the proposal.
