begin quote from:
Russia, US to Coordinate New Steps to End Syria Conflict
| Wall Street Journal | - |
Russia
and the U.S. agreed to coordinate new steps toward resolution of the
conflict in Syria, officials said Monday, as the Syrian army extended a
limited cease-fire around the capital for another 48 hours.
Russia, U.S. to Coordinate New Steps to End Syria Conflict
Move comes after Syria’s army extends a cease-fire in Damascus for another 48 hours
ENLARGE
U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry, left, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
shake hands in Moscow on March 25. The two diplomats Monday spoke by
phone on prospects for reaching a political solution to the crisis in
Syria.
Photo:
Zuma Press
The Syrian military said the cease-fire covering the Damascus region was extended for another 48 hours, through Tuesday, according to the state news agency SANA. But it doesn’t include Aleppo, the largest city, which has seen heavy fighting amid a renewed offensive by the Assad regime and its allies against rebel groups.
In Geneva for talks on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the broader, 2-month-old cessation of hostilities “has fallen apart completely” in some areas.
Mr. Kerry, who spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also said the two countries agreed to boost staffing in Geneva to monitor the cease-fire’s enforcement, and said the U.S. is working urgently to fully restore it, particularly in Aleppo.
“We’re trying to press this as fast as is possible, but I don’t want to make any promises that can’t be kept,” he told reporters. “So we are trying in the next hours to see if it is possible to reach agreement that can, not just re-implement cessation, but create a path forward for the cessation to hold.”
Mr. Kerry said the U.S., Russia and other players—he also met in Geneva with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir—were discussing ways to create areas in Aleppo and elsewhere that could allow for the separation of warring factions.
“There are several proposals that are now going back to key players to sign off. We’re hopeful, but we’re not there yet,” he said.
The secretary spoke alongside the United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who said there “was no excuse” not to reinvigorate the cease-fire. He also noted somberly that the U.S. and Russia need to enforce the mechanisms they’re discussing.
“The mechanism we need [is] the political will. Otherwise we would have only a mechanism,” Mr. de Mistura said.
Violence in Aleppo decreased Monday after more than a week of intense airstrikes on rebel-held neighborhoods, but clashes continued between regime forces and rebels in the city and surrounding countryside, activists and local media reported.
Regime warplanes and helicopters attacked Aleppo’s suburbs as rebels launched rockets on government-controlled neighborhoods inside the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group based in the U.K.
In their phone call, Messrs. Lavrov and Kerry discussed prospects for a political solution to the Syria war, Russia’s foreign ministry said. They also called for the parties involved to obey the temporary cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington, which took effect last weekend around Damascus.
The U.S. is pressing Russia to exert more pressure on its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to abide by the cessation of hostilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent warplanes last fall to bolster the Assad regime and maintains significant leverage in Damascus, despite a partial withdrawal in March.
“The U.S. has been in conversations with the Russians to try to get them to use their influence with the Assad regime to go back to living up to commitments that they made in the context of the cessation of hostilities all across the country,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
—Raja Abdulrahim in Beirut contributed to this article.
Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com 
