Diplomacy at an impasse as Syrian truce collapses

NEW YORK — The United States and Russia ended any pretence Thursday of their ceasefire for Syria remaining in force after days of increased violence and the Syrian military’s announcement of a new offensive in Aleppo.

“We can’t go out to the world and say we have an agreement when we don’t,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting the top diplomats from Russia and more than a dozen European and Middle Eastern countries.

Kerry’s statement, after three days of private and public diplomacy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, provided an ominous endnote to a week diplomats had hoped would be a major capstone toward peace.

Instead, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who negotiated the truce two weeks ago, went their separate ways as violence in Syria flared up anew and the relationship between the two key foreign powers in the conflict appeared to reach a new low.

As the diplomats huddled in a New York hotel, Syria’s military command said it would restart operations in the northern city of Aleppo, scene of some of the bitterest fighting in recent months.

According to one official present in the gathering, Kerry was informed of the news when his chief of staff showed him a headline on his BlackBerry.

A furious Kerry then told the entire room, Lavrov included, that “even while we are meeting here, they are doing this,” said the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

In an interview with the Associated Press in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad accused the U.S. of derailing a ceasefire and lacking the will to fight extremists in his country.