AP, Rome :
The United States and Russia are studying new ways to break a months long diplomatic deadlock over how to stop the fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday. He said the “ideas” will be tested in follow-up discussions between American and Russian diplomats next week.
While Kerry didn’t elaborate on the substance of the fresh approaches being worked on with Russia, he stressed that the US and Russia both see the situation as urgent and aren’t waiting for Donald Trump’s presidency to begin on January 20. But given the repeated failures of the former Cold War foes to halt Syria’s 5 year civil war, it is unclear how much hope the new effort holds.
“We have exchanged a set of ideas, which there will be a meeting on early next week in Geneva, and we have to wait and see whether those ideas have any legs to them,” Kerry said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome. “I will say that both sides understand the importance of trying to continue the diplomacy and trying to see if something can be done. Nobody is waiting for the next administration. We both feel there is urgency.”
Kerry said he will gauge progress with Lavrov when they meet again on the sidelines of a European security conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday. While the talks were going on, Syria showed off its recent gains in Aleppo, once the country’s largest city and commercial center.
State media reported Friday from areas captured this week in a Russian-backed ground offensive, airing reports of roads being restored, debris removed and civilians resettled. The UN aid agency said an estimated 31,500 people have been displaced as a result of the recent fighting, which takes Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government closer to capturing the whole city and completing what would be perhaps a devastating blow to US-backed rebel forces.
The war has killed as many as half a million people since 2011, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State group to emerge as a global terror threat.
Friday’s diplomatic discussions took place in a hotel several stories above an Italian-hosted conference on the Mediterranean region, and Russia’s Lavrov emphasized that his country won’t allow Syria to follow the example of lawless Libya after NATO’s 2011 intervention that helped topple dictator Moammar Gadhafi. That country now is experiencing perhaps its worst violence in two years as rival militias and extremist groups such as ISIS continue to vie for power.
The United States and Russia are studying new ways to break a months long diplomatic deadlock over how to stop the fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday. He said the “ideas” will be tested in follow-up discussions between American and Russian diplomats next week.
While Kerry didn’t elaborate on the substance of the fresh approaches being worked on with Russia, he stressed that the US and Russia both see the situation as urgent and aren’t waiting for Donald Trump’s presidency to begin on January 20. But given the repeated failures of the former Cold War foes to halt Syria’s 5 year civil war, it is unclear how much hope the new effort holds.
“We have exchanged a set of ideas, which there will be a meeting on early next week in Geneva, and we have to wait and see whether those ideas have any legs to them,” Kerry said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome. “I will say that both sides understand the importance of trying to continue the diplomacy and trying to see if something can be done. Nobody is waiting for the next administration. We both feel there is urgency.”
Kerry said he will gauge progress with Lavrov when they meet again on the sidelines of a European security conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday. While the talks were going on, Syria showed off its recent gains in Aleppo, once the country’s largest city and commercial center.
State media reported Friday from areas captured this week in a Russian-backed ground offensive, airing reports of roads being restored, debris removed and civilians resettled. The UN aid agency said an estimated 31,500 people have been displaced as a result of the recent fighting, which takes Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government closer to capturing the whole city and completing what would be perhaps a devastating blow to US-backed rebel forces.
The war has killed as many as half a million people since 2011, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State group to emerge as a global terror threat.
Friday’s diplomatic discussions took place in a hotel several stories above an Italian-hosted conference on the Mediterranean region, and Russia’s Lavrov emphasized that his country won’t allow Syria to follow the example of lawless Libya after NATO’s 2011 intervention that helped topple dictator Moammar Gadhafi. That country now is experiencing perhaps its worst violence in two years as rival militias and extremist groups such as ISIS continue to vie for power.
