The United States and Russian Federation have failed to agree on how to revive a short-lived ceasefire in Syria during what the UN Syria mediator called a “long, painful, hard and disappointing” meeting. That would permit Syria’s warring sides to reaffirm their support and prove their commitment to a U.S. Witnesses described a sustained, two-hour barrage that included barrel bombs – crude, unguided explosives that the Syrian government drops from helicopters.
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Hamza al-Khatib, head of a hospital in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, said that 91 people had been killed in Friday’s bombardment while the Civil Defence rescue group that operates in opposition areas said 40 buildings were destroyed.
Lavrov, according to one official, threw up his hands in exasperation. Some had attempted to present the ceasefire as if only the Syrian government should be taking steps, he said, but the opposition also needed to stop fighting. Until that happens, Lavrov said, any other measures would be “senseless”.
On September 9, Kerry and Lavrov met in Geneva and agreed to call a ceasefire, with Moscow responsible for forcing Assad’s forces to stand down and allow in United Nations aid convoys.
The group shared this year’s Right Livelihood Award, sometimes known as the “Alternative Nobel”, with activists from Egypt and Russian Federation and a Turkish newspaper, the prize foundation announced Thursday. An angry Kerry announced the news to the room after reading it off an aide’s BlackBerry.
Secretary of State John Kerry met informally Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, and told reporters that their talk had yielded “a little bit of progress”.
“We’re evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way”, Kerry said, toning down the outrage he had expressed with Russia’s position a day earlier and in a Wednesday speech at the U.N. Security Council. Several high-profile and deadly attacks suggested the war could be entering a darker phase.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The White House today rejected that charge, but Assad went further, insisting the USA deliberately targeted Syrian forces in a weekend airstrike.
Russia has denied carrying out the strike, instead charging that the convoy was hit by a “terrorists’ pickup truck carrying a large-caliber mortar”, according to Russian state news agency Tass. At least 54 Red Crescent volunteers have been killed in Syria.
But the diplomatic failure also underscored a rapid plunge in U.S.
A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow views a cease-fire in Syria as the best option possible.
With Syria’s cease-fire in shambles, the United States and Russian Federation are preparing to butt heads once again over ways to revive it. Aid barely reached anyone at all, despite much-hyped promises of unfettered humanitarian deliveries.
Airstrikes resumed Monday, hours after a US – and Russian-brokered cease-fire expired.
Washington and Moscow dug into seemingly intractable positions, including Kerry’s insistence this week that Russian Federation and Assad ground their air forces.
They said there were exit points for those who wanted to flee, including rebels.
Blaming rebels for the renewed violence, Lavrov rejected the additional demands.
“We will not be able to improve the humanitarian situation without the rooting out of the terrorist groups”, he said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem thanked Russian Federation for its help “in the fight against terrorism”.
United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura called it a “long, painful and disappointing meeting” but insisted that Washington and Moscow are serious about the truce.
Although they have made a handful of strikes in the past two years against terrorist forces that are fighting alongside the rebels, USA aircraft have focused on Islamic State targets to the north and east of where the Russians and Syrians have been striking.
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The war has killed as many as a half-million people, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, and allowed the Islamic State group to emerge as a global terror threat.
