These were suspended earlier this month in Geneva before they got off the ground. She’s written a book about U.S.-Russia relations called “The Limits Of Partnership”.
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MUNICH-Envoys from Iran and Saudi Arabia took part in peace talks in Germany this week to try to resolve the Syrian conflict, which produced a rare public attempt to bridge the two rivals’ deep differences.
Using his customary term Daesh -a scornful Arabic acronym – to refer to the Islamic State group, Kerry said: “We’re going to defeat Daesh and… our progress is measurable and growing on a steady basis”. “In general, the Raqqa front is open… starting in the direction of the Tabqa area”, the source said. Incirlik is now being used by the US-led coalition in the campaign against IS.
The truce deal in Munich comes as Syrian government forces, aided by a Russian bombing campaign, are trying to encircle rebels in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, and cut off their supply route to Turkey.
In an interview published Friday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the French News Agency that his forces planned to “retake the whole country”, fueling doubts about the parties’ commitment to end the almost five-year-old conflict. It also excludes the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, both declared terrorist organisations by the United Nations. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is only marginally more confident, and gave it a 51 percent chance.
“The fact that there are Iranian forces on the ground in Syria is a deeply destabilising factor”.
A US State Department spokesman said on Friday Assad was “deluded” if he thought there is a military solution to the war.
Thousands of displaced Syrian refugees are continuing to flock to the country’s borders amid intensified bombing despite a temporary “truce” agreement.
Euronews: Clearly, one of the key issue is the future of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
As the fighting continued, the Syrian army urged citizens in Deraa province, the Ghouta area east of Damascus, and in rural districts east of Aleppo to quickly seek out “reconciliation” with the government.
Cavusoglu did not specify the number of troops or jets, or the timing of a possible Saudi deployment, but said exploratory visits have been made.
“We need to have peace, we need to have negotiations, and for that, we need to stop bombings against civilians”, Valls said during his speech in Munich. “People are fleeing their homes and heading north towards Turkey or west towards Idlib suburbs”, he said.
“We are probably facing a hot war”, Grybauskaite said.
Moscow wanted to protect its national interests and to prevent militant extremists getting to Russia, Medvedev said.
KELEMEN: Russia has some conflicting goals in Syria.
“To date, the vast majority, in our opinion, of Russia’s attacks have been against legitimate opposition groups”.
A day after the agreement was clinched, Syrian troops, backed by Russian airstrikes, made gains against rebels near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
Foreign opponents of Assad including Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been supplying vetted rebel groups with weapons via a Turkey-based operations center.
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In announcing the deal to push for a pause in hostilities, US officials were cautious in their expectations.
