U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to strike a deal for a ceasefire in Syria and differences remain, a senior State Department official said after their meeting in China on Monday.
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Exactly what the differences are isn’t totally clear, but previous U.S. interests in launching a joint military operation against the Nusra Front appear to have evaporated with Nusra’s official rebranding, which ended their official status as an al-Qaeda affiliate.
They are discussing a ceasefire between Syria’s government and moderate rebels, and a possible U.S. In his own news conference, Obama said he was skeptical that Russian Federation and Syria would abide by any agreement, but said a long-term solution to Syria’s civil war is still urgently needed. The US and Russian Federation are both ostensibly fighting ISIS in Syria, but America has charged that Russian Federation has mostly focused on bombing groups opposing Assad, a close Moscow ally.
The Turkish military, along with several factions of the Free Syrian Army that it supports, has driven ISIS from twenty or so villages it held along the Syrian border, a strip of land that gave the group critical access to the outside world.
A key way to doing so, he said, is for each side to have operational awareness of the other – “to know exactly what they’re doing, and for us to establish the way with them, ways that they can not interfere with one another in the pursuit of their separate objectives”.
In his first meeting with May since she took office in Britain, Obama sought to demonstrate American solidarity with the United Kingdom amid the tumult over its decision to leave the European Union. At one point, the State Department was confident enough to schedule a news conference, at which the two were supposed to announce a deal. He told reporters it was wrong for Britain to leave the Europen Union. “If we can not get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort”.
Daily and weekly contacts between the Russian and United States militaries and special services continue in order to develop such a plan.
It would ensure that government fighters pulled back in some areas, including around Aleppo, to allow convoys of humanitarian aid to reach civilians caught in the fighting.
Since then, fighting in the devastating five-year conflict has intensified in many areas, especially around the strategic city of Aleppo in Northern Syria. “I think it’s premature for us to say there’s a clear path forward, but there’s the possibility at least for us to make some progress”. I mean I’d love to hear the tapes of their conversations after he leaves when he talks about Plan B. When all of us know there is no Plan B. Russian Federation knows there is no Plan B. Turkey’s actions “could further complicate the military and political situation in Syria, which is dire as it is” and jeopardize global efforts to reach a peace deal, it added.
Any deal to end widespread suffering in Syria was likely to be met with doubt after past settlements, including a ceasefire agreed to in February, failed – a fact Obama acknowledged on Sunday.
The Russians have been pressing their advantage in recent months, bolstering Assad’s military as it claims more territory from the CIA-backed rebels and the Nusra Front and gaining leverage as the diplomacy proceeds at a glacial pace. Hijab conceded there were formidable obstacles hindering the implementation of this plan.
Johnson says in The Times column that Assad can have no part in a future government in Syria.
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An official in Syria’s contested city of Aleppo says a 13-year old girl has died after a suspected chlorine attack the previous day. “Their argument is if we want them to stop targeting our opposition, we should tell them where they are”.
