Kerry says Syrian war should be settled on political track

This photo shows one of the Aleppo streets after it was bombed by Russian Federation.

But Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, insists it is battling terrorists.

A 17-nation Syria Support Group, co-chaired by Russian Federation and the United States, agreed on Friday to seek a “cessation of hostilities” within a week and dramatically ramp up humanitarian access to besieged towns.

Valls said his government “respects Russia and Russia’s interests” but “that to re-discover the path to peace, to discussion, the Russian bombing of civilians has to stop”. The newly-born formal peace talks were suspended on February 3, after just three days, and may or may not restart on February 25.

The Foreign Secretary said the situation in Aleppo was “extremely worrying” but denied opposition forces could be defeated by Moscow’s air power.

The United States, insulated from the conflict and refugee flows by an ocean and continent, doesn’t feel the same urgency about Syria that Europe does, the diplomat said, adding that many Europeans feel the United States hasn’t taken tough enough steps to end the violence there.

US President Barack Obama has ruled out sending US ground troops to Syria but Saudi Arabia this month offered ground forces to fight Islamic State.

“It is an indication of the direction of coming operations towards Raqqa”. Zarif said there was room to identify common challenges, particularly jihadists such as the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra.

“I don’t see any”, he told an audience at the Munich Security Conference.

Lavrov’s German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, put the odds at 51 percent when asked the same question.

He accused Russian Federation of dropping so-called “dumb bombs” in Syria that do not have a precise target, saying this has led to the killing of civilians.

SERGEY LAVROV: You should not demonize Assad.

“If the global community and Syrians themselves miss the opportunity now before we to achieve that political resolution to the conflicts, the violence… will continue”, he said. On Saturday, Syrian government forces captured another village near Aleppo.

The Syrian Kurdish PYD party rejected Turkish demands for withdrawal, while the Syrian government said Turkish shelling of northern Syria amounted to direct support for insurgent groups. In addition to being a military supply route, the passage allowed commercial and aid trucks to enter Aleppo through the Bab al-Salam checkpoint on the Turkish-Syrian border.

The Syrian regime forces have encircled the opposition stronghold over the last week thanks to heavy Russian airstrikes.

“Left to its own devices the Assad regime would maintain the sieges”.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has said that any decision for the deployment of special forces to Syria would follow the will of the US-led coalition allegedly hitting hideouts of the Takfiri Daesh militants. “We are prepared to work with Saudi Arabia… They came and carried out inspections at the base”, Cavusoglu told the Yeni Safak newspaper, adding it was unclear how many planes would come and that the Saudis might also send soldiers.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has also warned against the deployment of ground troops to Syria, describing the envisioned move as a “dangerous escalation”.

Despite the territorial advances made in recent weeks by Assad’s forces, backed by Russian air strikes and military assistance by Iran, Jubeir said he did not believe the Syrian president would survive.