JOHN KERRY: If the worldwide community and the Syrians themselves miss the opportunity now before us to achieve that political resolution to the conflict, the bombing, the anguish, is going to continue and all the talk that will take place here and has taken place to date will mean nothing except an increase in the cynicism of people of the world. A meeting of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was focused only implementation of the accords on Syria reached on Thursday, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.
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The solution to the Syrian crisis lays in legitimate peace talks that address the underlying issues in the conflict. These were suspended earlier this month in Geneva before they got off the ground. While the cessation plan was being brokered, Saudi Arabia has been prepping for a possible ground invasion by stationing troops and fighter jets on a Turkish military base near the Syrian border.
He said the two countries faced “common threats”, including the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups.
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that his country will not stop its air attacks across Syria.
If its forces retake Aleppo and seal the Turkish border north of the city, Damascus would deal a crushing blow to the insurgents who were on the march until Russian Federation intervened, shoring up Assad’s rule and paving the way to the current reversal of rebel fortunes. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is only marginally more confident, and gave it a 51 percent chance.
“You could say even more sharply: we have fallen into a new Cold War”, he said.
Assad, backed on the ground by Iranian combatants and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in addition to big power ally Russian Federation, is showing no appetite for a negotiated ceasefire. The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafar, said “They claim they will send troops (to Syria) but I don’t think they will dare do so”.
State TV and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say troops captured Tamoura on Saturday.
He repeated allegations that Russian airstrikes in Syria have not been directed at terrorists but rather at moderate opposition groups supported by the USA and its European and Arab partners.
U.S.-allied Kurdish forces are also fighting Islamic State in Raqqa. The United States has provided some support to the rebels and called for Assad to leave power.
France led global criticism of Russia on Saturday for bombing civilians in Syria, a charge Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev rejected as major powers bickered openly just a day after they agreed a pause in combat in Syria.
The ISSG, which includes Russian Federation, has declared a “cessation of hostilities” should begin in Syria by Friday, but the terms of that partial cease-fire are being widely questioned. The inclusion of Saudi Arabia has raised concern of igniting a wider regional conflict involving the clash between two Islamic religious ideals, Sunni and Shiite, along side their mutual allies, the United States and Russian Federation respectively.
“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.
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Medvedev said that was simply not true.
