After a 90-minute huddle on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit, the two leaders directed their top diplomats to return to talks quickly, likely later this week, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the meeting.
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A State Department spokesman said Monday Washington’s envoy to the US-led coalition against IS was in Syria and Turkey last week for talks with Syrian Kurdish forces and Turkish officials. “And we’ll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement”.
The U.S. backs some of the rebel groups against Assad, considering them relative moderates.
The official admitted, however, that there were still “significant differences” with the Russians. “We are in an effort to take this step”, he added. “If we can not get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort”.
On Sunday, after an anticipated news conference did not take place, Kerry told reporters that his negotiations here with Lavrov snagged on “a couple of tough issues” – almost identical to the language he used when the two failed to reach agreement in their last meeting, just over a week ago in Geneva. The “Islamic State” (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh), the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria.
Russia, however, considers several of the groups the US backs to be “terrorist” organizations and, therefore, as legitimate targets.
Russian Federation has complained of increasing overlap between the opposition and terrorist groups on the ground, and it said it was up to the United States to separate them before a deal could be struck.
Obama confirmed US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will continue talks on “ways in which we can institute a meaningful, serious, verifiable cessation of hostilities in Syria”.
The latest violence came a day after Turkish forces and allied rebels seized the last part of the Turkish-Syrian border under IS control.
He said a deal could be firmed up in the “coming days” but refused to elaborate, saying that U.S. and Russian officials are still “working out some of our preliminary agreements”.
Obama didn’t detail the trouble spots, although he suggested the US has concerns about Russian Federation holding up its end of the bargain and enforcing the terms.
Photos of the session distributed by the Kremlin show the two leaders and aides, including Kerry and US National Security Adviser Susan Rice, seated around a table.
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Another attack hit the Al-Sabura road west of the capital Damascus, with state media saying one person was killed and three wounded.
