The United States and Russian Federation say they have completed most of the technical discussions on reaching an agreement in principle on a ceasefire in Syria and are now focused on “making the cessation of hostilies real”.
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Lavrov and Kerry met in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday as fighting in Syria becomes more volatile and complicated by the introduction of Turkish ground forces.
They were briefly joined by the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who had said Thursday the talks would be “important”, and could help his drive to revive the stalled negotiations.
Expectations are low, however, particularly given how efforts to forge a new U.S. -Russia understanding have fallen short virtually every month the past five years. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria.
“The Kurds must continue being part of the Syrian state”, said Sergey Lavrov, Russian FM.
Now, the USA top diplomat John Kerry said that.and the people who are breaking the cessation of hostilities will be held accountable so that a political process can be started.
This week, Turkey entered the fray, sending tanks, troops and aircraft across the Syrian border to help US -backed rebels drive Islamic State fighters out of the key border town of Jarabulus. Lavrov considered necessary to make a difference between the opposition that opted for the truce and that which is fighting with the terrorist movement Islamic State (IS) and other similar groups.
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N.’s Syria envoy, told reporters in Geneva earlier this week that Friday’s talks are important and could make progress toward getting back to political negotiations.
There was hope that Friday’s talks between Kerry and Lavrov might help boost those efforts, but no specific pledges on Aleppo were made.
Kerry said neither Washington or Moscow is deceived by the name change. “The Obama administration correctly perceives this as the last best chance to ease the killing during this administration and are therefore willing to swallow a bitter pill and get more on-board with the Russian initiative than they would have liked to in an ideal world”.
He said “the cessation, even flawed, was valuable”.
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Meanwhile, in a blow to opposition forces, rebels and civilians in the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya were evacuated on August 26 after agreeing to surrender the town after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that left the sprawling area in ruins. He said the Russian military’s reconciliation center in Syria has received a request from another area to organize a similar operation with Russian mediation.
