The UN envoy for Syria on Friday joined a closely-watched meeting between Russian Federation and the United States, raising hopes for progress towards resuming peace talks for the war-ravaged country.
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After meeting off-and-on with Lavrov for almost 10 hours in Geneva on Friday, Kerry said the “vast majority” of technical discussions on steps to reinstate the ceasefire and improve humanitarian access have been completed.
GENEVA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov sought on Friday to finalise an agreement on fighting Islamist militants in Syria as the first evacuees left a besieged Damascus suburb under a plan which has aroused the U.N.’s concern.
Kerry said the talks with Lavrov had “achieved clarity on the path forward” but together they offered few details on how they planned to renew a February cessation of hostilities and improve humanitarian assistance.
Last month, the Nusra Front, one of Syria’s most powerful anti-government groups, split from al-Qaeda and rebranded itself as Jabhat Fath al Sham, or The Front for Liberation of al Sham.
“As we have all seen now, violations eventually became the norm rather than the exception”, Kerry said.
Russian Federation and the U.S. previously teamed up in July, when Kerry launched Syrian cooperation talks in Moscow that led to the countries sharing intelligence to coordinate air strikes against ISIS.
The White House on Thursday said it supported United Nations efforts to bring all sides together to deliver humanitarian relief to Aleppo and would welcome Russia’s constructive engagement.
A deal on fighting jihadists in Syria could help lead to an end to fighting between the army and its militia allies on one side and non-jihadist rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr. Kerry said earlier this week that technical teams were nearing the end of discussions but it was unclear if the powers would complete things.
As a possible sign of tightening cooperation, Moscow vowed Thursday to work with the United States on a response after a UN investigation found that the Syrian regime had carried out chemical attacks.
“We are ready, trucks are ready, and they can leave anytime we get that message”, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday told reporters in Geneva, where negotiations on humanitarian aid delivery and a cessation of hostilities are under way. 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.
Expectations had been low for the talks, particularly given how efforts to forge a new U.S. -Russia understanding have fallen short virtually every month for the past five years.
Those goals are not new, but recent developments have made achieving them even more urgent and important, according to USA officials. Last week, the USA had to call for Russian help when Syrian warplanes struck an area not far from where US troops were operating.
The Russian minister said experts would continue the talks next week.
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Moscow and Washington will boost their cooperation on resolving the Syrian crisis as they have managed to reduce their mutual mistrust on the conflict in the Arab country, says the Russian foreign minister.
