US suspends talks with Russia on Syria ceasefire

The United States yesterday suspended negotiations with Russia on efforts to revive a failed ceasefire in Syria and set up a joint military cell to target militants.
 “This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, accusing Russia and its Syrian ally of stepping up attacks on civilian areas.
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest added: “Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out.”
 “What is clear is there is nothing more for the US and Russia to talk about with regard to trying to reach an agreement that would reduce the levels of violence inside of Syria. And that’s tragic,” Earnest said.
 Kirby said the Russian and US militaries will continue to use a communications channel set up to ensure their forces do not get in each other’s way during “counterterrorism operations in Syria.”
 But the United States is calling back home personnel who had been sent to Geneva in order to set up a “Joint Implementation Centre” with Russian officers to plan co-ordinated strikes.
 And US diplomats will suspend discussions with Russia on reviving a September 9 deal reached between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
 Under that protocol, a truce came into effect on September 12, but it collapsed within a week amid bitter recriminations and a surge of fighting in the five-year civil war.
 Washington has accused Moscow of failing to rein in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government forces and abetting his strikes on civilian targets.
 “Unfortunately, Russia failed to live up to its own commitments, including its obligations under international humanitarian law,” Kirby said.
 According to the US spokesman, Russia was “either unwilling or unable to ensure Syrian regime adherence to the arrangements to which Moscow agreed.
 “Rather, Russia and the Syrian regime have chosen to pursue a military course, inconsistent with the cessation of hostilities, as demonstrated by their intensified attacks against civilian areas,” Kirby added.
 Kirby accused Moscow and Damascus of “targeting of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in need.”
 And he repeated Washington’s charge that Russia and the regime were responsible for the deadly September 19 attack on a United Nations aid convoy in northern Syria, outside Aleppo.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has attacked  the “cynicism” of the Assad regime and its Russian ally, while urging support for a new ceasefire.
Ayrault appealed to the “conscience of all the members of the (UN) Security Council” to support a French-drafted resolution to impose a truce in Aleppo, where the regime has launched a ferocious offensive to take back rebel-held areas.
Moscow yesterday claimed its bombing campaign in Syria was “highly effective”, denying its jets struck hospitals.
 The statement came after the largest hospital in opposition-held eastern Aleppo was bombed for the second time in days, with the UN’s top aid official referring to the “living hell” suffered by locals.

UN vows to push for political solution
The UN Syria envoy yesterday voiced deep disappointment  at the collapse of US-Russian talks to revive a Syria ceasefire, but vowed to keep working for a political solution. “The UN will continue to push energetically for a political solution of the Syrian conflict regardless of the very disappointing outcome of intense and long discussions among two crucial international stakeholders,” the office of Staffan de Mistura said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Arab League Council, at Kuwait’s request,  will hold today an extraordinary session at the level of permanent delegates to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo.