U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the situation in Syria had “dramatically deteriorated” since the “brief oasis of calm” following a cessation- of-hostilities agreement, and he promised that the U.S. and Russian Federation were close to a new agreement on a more durable arrangement.
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Following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva, Kerry said there are still “a few narrow issues to be resolved” before a lasting accord can be reached.
“Today I can say that we achieved clarity on the path forward”, said Kerry.
“There is no agreement at this time”, Cook said on Friday. Turkey’s recent decision to intervene militarily in Syria also highlights the nature of the conflict as a proxy war between regional powers.
Kerry explained that U.S. and Russian experts would continue to meet in Geneva in the coming days to pore over unresolved issues in hopes of striking a durable deal.
Moscow and Washington support opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, which erupted in March 2011 after President Bashar al-Assad unleashed a brutal crackdown against a pro-democracy revolt. But critical sticking points remained unresolved and experts would stay in Geneva to try to finalise those, he said.
“We have continued our efforts to reduce the areas where we lack understanding and trust, which in an achievement”, Lavrov said.
The inability to wrest an agreement between Russian Federation and the US – as the major sponsors of the opposing sides in the stalled Syria peace talks – all but spells another missed deadline for the U.N. Syria envoy to get the Syrian government and “moderate” opposition back to the table.
The two diplomats met on and off for almost 12 hours and were briefly joined by the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who on Thursday voiced hopes the talks would help his drive to revive the stalled negotiations. For their part, USA officials say they are willing to press rebels groups they support harder on separating themselves from the Islamic State and al-Nusra. “We don’t want a deal for the sake of the deal, we want a deal that is effective”. The city has seen fierce battles between rebel groups and Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes, and hundreds of thousands of civilians remain cut off from relief. While Russia is providing military support to the government of embattled President Bashar al-Assad, the USA is supporting rebel groups seeking to bring Assad down.
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While President Barack Obama demanded Assad’s ouster five years ago, his administration may ease off its demand that he leave to address more immediate issues, such as the humanitarian crisis, according to analysts, including Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group.
