Brett McGurk, the Obama administration’s point-man for defeating the Islamic State, said Russia’s Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria’s government.
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The sanctions war between Russia and the West may drag on for decades, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. In recent weeks, Kerry and Lavrov have held a series of phone calls on the crisis in Syria.
US officials declined to get into the specifics of the ongoing negotiations out of fears of jeopardizing the outcome, but they said aid delivery could include airdrops of assistance by Russian and American aircraft.
Ford, now a scholar at the Middle East Institute, said it is more important to watch Russia’s military action in Syria, a move that he said is unlikely to receive a strong challenge from the United States.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday it estimates that around 50,000 people have been displaced by the increasing fighting in the northern parts of Aleppo province.
US officials did not immediately confirm they received such a plan.
“This, of course, will be a violation of all principles of global law, and also substantially and efficiently increase the escalation”, – said Lavrov.
“I don’t think it will happen because of minor provocations, which I have already said (the construction of campsites, preparation of any engineering structures on the distance of 100-200 meters deep into Syrian territory several kilometers on the front) – it’s still not a full-scale invasion”, – said the head of the Russian foreign Ministry, responding to a question.
Ban had “practically” accused Russian Federation of leading to the collapse of the talks, it added.
Though the U.S. State Department keeps a public record of Secretary of State John Kerry’s travels, this is the first time Russian records have been made public, according to Kommersant.
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“We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment”, Kerry said Tuesday in Washington. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the US last week.
