U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, addressing a joint news conference after day-long talks in Geneva, said that their respective experts would continue to hash out details in coming days in the Swiss city.
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There was hope that Friday’s talks between Kerry and Lavrov might help boost those efforts, but no specific pledges on Aleppo were made.
The top USA and Russian diplomats make clear they have yet to overcome differences on a Syrian ceasefire plan, but both Kerry and Lavrov say a solution is very near.
The focus was on ironing out details on how to address cease-fire violations by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as well as the rise of a rebel group linked to al-Qaeda that has mingled with opposition groups backed by the U.S.
De Mistura has been trying to bring government and opposition representatives back to the negotiating table this month to revive a shattered broader ceasefire.
The U.N. relief plan for Aleppo entails simultaneous deliveries of food to the rebel-held east and government-controlled west, Egeland said.
Western Aleppo, where needs have “increased dramatically”, would be supplied via Damascus, he said.
The U.S. military scrambled jets last week to protect U.S. Special Operations forces in response to a Syrian bombing run near where they were operating.
The Turkish-backed fighters have seized the Syrian border town of Jarabulus from the Islamic State (IS) group, while Turkish forces have also shelled a Syrian Kurdish militia that it considers to be a terror group.
At the same time, the Obama administration is not of one mind regarding the Russians. Proponents at the White House and the State Department say the deal will allow the U.S.to step up its attacks on Nusra and help protect USA allies on the ground in Syria who have faced air attacks from Syrian and Russian forces.
Those goals are not new, but recent developments have made achieving them even more urgent and important, according to USA officials.
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There would also be repairs of the electrical system in the “disputed south” that powers water pumping stations serving 1.8 million people. Numerous efforts in the past to pause the fighting and start a political transition have failed, stymied by al-Assad’s continued campaign against the rebels, Russian and Iranian air and ground support, and the moderate and extremist rebel groups fighting him. Recent developments include military operations around the city of Aleppo, the entry of Turkey into the ground war, Turkish hostility toward US -backed Kurdish rebel groups and the presence of American military advisers in widening conflict zones.
