“It was constructive”, a USA official said after the meeting, noting that all differences were not resolved.
Advertisement
A cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by Lavrov and Kerry in February unraveled within weeks, with Washington accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of violating the agreement. The U.S. has accused Russian Federation and Syria of deliberately targeting opposition groups under the guise of fighting terrorists.
Syrian government troops renewed their siege of Aleppo on Sunday, with state media saying they had taken an area south of the city, severing the last opposition-held route into its eastern neighbourhoods.
Russian Federation and the US are looking to achieve a ceasefire between Al-Assad’s government and USA -backed rebels that would expand access to aid for hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire. Some of those groups are supported by the US. He says Assad bears “overwhelming responsibility” for the massive loss of life in Syria.
“There are a couple of tough issues that we talked about today that we will go back and review, I will go back and review, and we’ve agreed to meet tomorrow morning and see whether or not it is possible to bridge the gap, come to conclusion on those couple of issues”, Mr Kerry said.
At the press conference Monday, Obama also addressed concerns about cybersecurity, acknowledging that the US has “had problems with cyber intrusions” from Russian Federation and other countries.
“We’re not there yet”, Obama told reporters Sunday. “If we can not get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort”.
The US has been intensely critical of Russian airstrikes against Nusra in recent weeks, and insisted that Russia is obliged to ensure that humanitarian aid flows into all parts of the city of Aleppo.
Syrian activists say at least 10 civilians have been killed in a new airstrike on the neighborhood where a suspected chlorine gas attack struck the previous day.
And given the frosty faces of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama in photographs of them meeting at the G20 summit in China, it seems little surprise that they were unable to reach a deal on ending the violence in Syria.
“It is worth trying”, he said. Obama acknowledged “gaps of trust” between the rival powers following months of negotiations between their top diplomats.
The decision to deepen cooperation with Moscow was already controversial, given the Obama administration’s public criticism of Russia’s role in Syria.
The U.S. and Russian Federation again have failed to reach a deal for a cease-fire in Syria despite a growing worldwide outcry about the humanitarian catastrophe in the country.
For months, the Russians have been pushing the United States to agree to share intelligence on targeting ISIS and al-Nusra militants. Hijab conceded there were formidable obstacles hindering the implementation of this plan.
“We are supporting the process, although we want a genuine ceasefire”, he said in London. For starters, the United States doesn’t want to be held accountable for civilian casualties caused by Russian strikes against ISIS targets.
More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Daesh.
Russian Federation has insisted that it can not agree to a deal unless opposition fighters, backed by the United States and Middle East allies, are separated from al-Qaeda linked militants they overlap with in some areas. Aside from a general distrust that either side will be willing to keep its promises, many of of the sticking points center around just which groups and where would continue to be legitimate military targets.
In a “flash update ” on Tuesday, OCHA said figures from a camp coordination group show almost half of the displaced from Hama arrived in the neighboring rebel-held Idlib governorate.
Senior US officials said Tuesday they hope an initial 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo will enable the United Nations to set up internationally monitored check-points that could get aid through.
Advertisement
Kerry and Lavrov’s talks represent their third significant attempt since July to finalize a new US-Russian military partnership that Moscow has long sought.
