Obama acknowledged “gaps of trust” between the rival powers following months of negotiations between their top diplomats.
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“The secretary remains committed to continuing efforts to try and resolve the outstanding issues in order to reach an arrangement on Syria. but we won’t agree to an arrangement that does not meet our core objectives”, Toner said.
The two sides have been meeting for months to discuss possible U.S. Following Obama’s meeting with Putin, an official said the leaders indicated a desire for Kerry and Lavrov to reconvene deliberations in the coming days.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi Shiite militia (Harakat al-Nujaba), allied with Syria’s army and fighting Islamist rebels, on Wednesday claimed it had dispatched 1,000 additional fighters to the southern part of besieged Aleppo.
Medical workers in the city have said the opposition-controlled neighborhood was hit with chlorine gas on Tuesday, though the report could not be independently verified.
On Wednesday the world’s chemical weapons watchdog condemned the alleged use of toxic substances in Aleppo, once Syria’s economic capital, after dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems. A 13-year-old girl and a 29-year-old man died from further complications on Wednesday.
The White House is also reluctant to offer Putin a high-profile stage to gain worldwide legitimacy due to his backing of a regime that has used chemical weapons. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including vomiting and nausea.
Syrian government troops renewed their siege of Aleppo on Sunday, with state media saying they had taken an area south of the city, severing the last opposition-held route into its eastern neighbourhoods.
Moscow entered the Syrian conflict in September 2015 to conduct airstrikes against opponents of the Syrian regime.
A deal to provide aid to Aleppo’s civilians and at least partially halt Russian and Syrian bombardments had looked likely on Sunday, before talks collapsed.
The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou for ninety minutes, a senior USA official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. Ultraconservative Islamic insurgents last week advanced in Hama, prompting fierce clashes with government forces.
The records also showed that Saudi Arabia has used its far-ranging contract with worldwide PR firm the MSL group to help the Syrian opposition with “media support”, reaching out to global news outlets.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, was aimed at “terror groups” such as Daesh and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a US-backed Kurdish group based in Syria.
A former Syrian official, who is still close to the government, said “there was no pressure on the regime to accept this proposal”, which he described as a “tactical ploy” by the opposition. Of those, 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria, with almost 7 million displaced inside the country.
Syrian opposition leaders unveiled a plan in London for a political transition created to end the war.
The subsequent 18 months would see Syria governed by a transitional body, made up of opposition figures, current government representatives and members of civil society, according to a 25-page blueprint.
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Ahead of his meeting with the broad-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Johnson told The Times newspaper that the proposals would include a six-month negotiating phase between the regime and the opposition.
