US Secretary of State John Kerry told press on Friday (Aug 26) that talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had made much headway, with minor details remaining to be addressed in view of brokering a new truce for war-torn Syria.
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“We literally stand on the brink of the Syrian regime and opposition parties going back to a state of all-out war, so needless to say the situation has dramatically deteriorated since the brief oasis of calm that followed the launch of the cessation of hostilities in February”, he said.
Yet the comments by Kerry and Lavrov also reflect how the two countries remain far apart on big issues, including Assad’s fate and the US insistence that his forces, as well as Russia’s, not target moderate opposition groups as they pursue the Nusra and Islamic State, whose headquarters are in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
They also indicate that separating US-backed rebels from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra front has been one of the sticking points in the talks. Asked what the main impediment was to a nationwide ceasefire, Lavrov quipped: “I don’t want to spoil the atmosphere for the negotiations”.
The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a US-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from Islamic State.
While the USA and Russian Federation are still at odds about the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and differ on how to fight the rebel groups, the talks might at least bring about a weekly 48-hour pause in fighting to allow United Nations aid convoys to reach the city of Aleppo in northwest Syria.
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.
At the same time, the Obama administration is not of one mind regarding the Russians.
“Without a delineation between normal, healthy opposition forces and terrorists, I see no possibility of reaching a long-term and comprehensive cessation of hostilities”, Lavrov said.
According to the U.S. mission in Geneva, Kerry arrived in Geneva on Thursday evening for the talks. Another mission would go to southern Aleppo to help revive a damaged electric plant that powers crucial pumping stations that supply water for 1.8 million people. “Russian Federation will work with the Syrian government, the United States will work with the opposition”, announced Lavrov.
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He said that Aleppo continues to be besieged and bombarded by the regime and its allies and the regime has today forced the surrender of Daraya after a brutal four years of the siege and continues to take territory in the Damascus suburbs.
