New talks on Syria end with little progress
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Talks between the United States, Russia and key Middle East states aimed at brokering a new pause in Syria’s war broke up after a few hours Saturday without signs of progress, or a break in the Syrian government’s ferocious assault on rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo.
Secretary of State John Kerry began the talks in the Swiss lakeside city of Lausanne, meeting one-on-one with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov.
That 40-minute encounter, described as “businesslike” by a State Department spokesman, John Kirby, came 12 days after Washington suspended bilateral contacts with Moscow and called for an investigation into Russian war crimes in Syria.
Kerry and Lavrov then headed into talks with the foreign ministers from regional powers involved in the conflict, including Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, along with the U.N. mediator, Staffan de Mistura.
The diplomats left about four hours later with terse comments that gave away nothing of substance.
Both sides had downplayed prospects of a breakthrough before the talks began.
Kerry, who was expected to leave Sunday for talks in London with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, told reporters that discussions with Russia and the Middle East states would resume Monday.
Lavrov went into the talks saying he would focus on implementing an earlier agreement that called for separating Western-backed rebels in Syria from hard-line jihadi groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
He emerged from the meetings saying only that the parties had discussed “some ideas” and had agreed to meet in coming days, “expecting certain agreements which would help promote” a settlement, the ITARTass news agency reported.
That brought no prospect of early relief for the beleaguered quarter of a million residents of the rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
They are facing what international aid agencies have described as the heaviest bombardment since the collapse of a truce three weeks ago.
Syrian and Russian aircraft bombed four hospitals in Aleppo on Friday, causing severe damage to a major trauma facility, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders reported.
The group called it the worst damage inflicted on already battered health facilities since the end of September.