Kerry hopeful of extending Syrian truce

Kerry was in Geneva for talks with other dignitaries to try to revive the first major ceasefire of the five-year Syrian war, which was put in place in February with US and Russian backing but has since all but collapsed. 

Syria announced temporary local truces in other areas last week but has so far failed to extend it to Aleppo, where government air strikes and rebel shelling have killed hundreds of civilians in the past week, including more than 50 people in a hospital that rebels say was deliberately targeted. 

The Aleppo fighting threatens to wreck the first peace talks involving the warring parties, which are due to resume at an unspecified date after breaking up in April when the opposition delegation walked out in anger. 

“We’re getting closer to a place of understanding, but we have some work to do, and that’s why we’re here,” Kerry said at the start of the meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Jubeir condemned the escalation of fighting as a “violation of all humanitarian laws” and called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. “He can leave through a political process, which we hope he will do, or he will be removed by force,” Jubeir said. 

The fighting has drawn in global powers, while all diplomatic efforts to resolve it have foundered over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, who refuses to accept opposition demands that he leave power.