“But as I have said to you in other contexts before, we’re not going to rush to an agreement until it satisfies fully the needs of the Syrian people and the ability of the worldwide community to address them in ways that can show real results”.
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US State Secretary John Kerry said that terrorist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra constitute a threat to the Syrian people.
They also indicated that separating US-backed rebels from the al-Nusra Front has been one of the sticking points in the talks.
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.
With global organizations and aid groups citing an increasingly dire situation in the key northern city of Aleppo, one focus of the talks was how to suspend the fighting long enough to effectively deliver humanitarian aid. Kerry did not speak and it was not immediately clear if either man would address reporters after their talks, which are expected to last several hours and also include discussions about the crisis in Ukraine.
Over the summer, de Mistura said he hoped to resume “toward the end of August” the intra-Syria talks that he suspended in late April, after failing to make concrete progress toward his ultimate aim: political transition in Syria.
John Kerry has said any deal between Russian Federation and the U.S. on Syria must achieve lasting stability in the region. While Kerry said this week that technical teams from both sides were close to the end of their discussions, US officials indicated it was too early to say whether an agreement was likely.
Kerry said the Syrian regime “forced the surrender” of Daraya in contravention of the February cessation of hostilities agreement, but Lavrov said the local accord was an “example” that should be “replicated”. “We’re hopeful that today could see resolution on at least some of them, and that we can move this plan forward”, the official said, “But we’re mindful of the challenges”.
President Assad’s future is not part of the current talks.
“If the U.N. says they need 48 hours, of course we support the U.N. But. our focus is on a nationwide sustainable cessation of hostilities”, said State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau.
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Civilians in other encircled towns were also malnourished, Egeland said, singling out rebel-besieged Foua and Kefraya in Idlib and government-besieged Madaya near Damascus, which have not had United Nations food deliveries in 116 days.
