US, Russia can effectively co-op, says Kerry

The Syrian president apparently had never tried to resolve the conflict surrounding Syria for more than four years.

Kerry had arrived in Moscow on Tuesday with no guarantee the NY meeting would be agreed – a key part of a new diplomatic push to end the Syrian war next year.

He told Lavrov, “Even when there have been differences between us we have been able to work effectively on specific issues”.

Mr Kerry also met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for talks, and described the meeting as “good”. Who leads Syria is a matter for Syrians themselves to decide, though the USA has accused Russian Federation of interfering in that process by launching airstrikes against Syrian rebels while pretending to hit ISIS positions.

Speaking in Moscow late on Tuesday, Lavrov said: “We support the idea of convening in NY another meeting of the International Syria Support Group at the ministerial level this Friday, December 18”.

Russian and Western perceptions of the future of Syria may not in the end be compatible enough to allow for a successful joint effort to find a political solution.

Since Russia began its campaign of airstrikes in Syria more than two months ago, it has gradually expanded the scope of its attacks, including cruise missile salvos and raids against Syrian rebels with giant Russia-based strategic bombers. But the United States has repeatedly criticized Russian efforts, saying most of its strikes have not targeted the so-called Islamic State extremists.

“It is vital to the world that nations don’t just hunker down in opposition but that they engage and find a way through communication to try to not be isolated and try not to go down predetermined roads, but find a way to be able to solve the problems”, Kerry said.

And, he said, “We want Turkish forces to join in the air and on the ground as appropriate”.

Syrian opposition groups, however, demand that Assad leave at the start of the process – a point they reiterated at last week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia – which is supposed to begin in early January, once the opposition groups have settled on a delegation to negotiate with the government. The struggle for regional supremacy pits an alliance of Sunni Arab monarchies-the Gulf Cooperation Council members plus Jordan and Morocco (GCC+2) -against the Shiite regimes and militias in the Levant-Iran, Iraq, the Al-Assad regime, plus Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (Al-Hashd Al-Shabi).

Russian Federation and the US are at odds over the mechanics of a political transition aimed at halting the war in Syria as well as the military approach to fighting the Islamic State group.

Syria seemed to dominate the talks during Kerry’s visit to the Russian capital on Tuesday.

The United Nations says a seven-day ceasefire is now in effect in Yemen between government forces and the Houthis.

Regarding Ukraine, Kerry is asking for Russia’s full implementation of a February cease-fire in exchange for sanctions relief. “We will talk about some of the details of a transition…in the hopes of narrowing the differences between us”, a senior state department official told reporters. Rather, it is on facilitating a peace process in which “Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria”, the U.S. official said. “These are distinct issues with distinct paths forward”. “Given the US influence on Kiev, it would be a positive factor”.