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International meeting for Syria cease-fire canceled, Russia says Russia, U.S. differ on whether meeting for Syria cease-fire has been canceled
(about 1 hour later)
BEIRUT — A meeting of the international coordinating group charged with implementing a cease-fire in Syria was canceled Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said, delaying any reduction of hostilities and raising further questions about the workability of the truce. BEIRUT — A meeting of the international coordinating group charged with implementing a cease-fire in Syria was cancelled Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said, delaying any reduction of hostilities and raising further questions about the workability of the truce.
The coordinating group was due to convene in Geneva Friday but called off the meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. The coordinating group was due to convene in Geneva on Friday but called off the meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“There was no group meeting today,” she said. She did not elaborate on why the meeting did not take place.“There was no group meeting today,” she said. She did not elaborate on why the meeting did not take place.
The cancellation signals another setback for international efforts to broker an end to a civil war that has killed 250,000 people, displaced millions and turned into a dangerous proxy conflict for world powers. A U.S. official in Washington, however, speaking on condition of anonymity under government-imposed rules, said that the meeting “has been delayed by a few hours, not cancelled.”
However, U.S. and Russian military officials did hold an unannounced bilateral meeting Friday morning, the Reuters news agency reported from Geneva. The cancellation, if true, signals another setback for international efforts to broker an end to a civil war that has killed 250,000 people, displaced millions and turned into a a dangerous proxy conflict among world powers. Prospects for peace have diminished as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces make large gains near the strategic northern city of Aleppo with help from Iranian-backed militants and Russian airstrikes.
The bilateral meeting was aimed at narrowing positions between the two powers — an attempt for a joint view, Reuters reported. No other details on the bilateral meeting were given. Adding more confusion Friday, the Reuters news agency reported from Geneva that U.S. and Russian military officials did hold an unannounced bilateral meeting Friday morning, aimed at narrowing positions between the two powers — an attempt for a joint view, Reuters reported.
The United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the five-year-old Syrian conflict, backed a tentative agreement in Munich last week to reach a cease-fire and deliver humanitarian aid to besieged Syrians. The same U.S. official who refuted the Russian contention that the coordinating group meeting had been canceled said that there had been no separate bilateral meeting between U.S. and Russian militaries.
That agreement, described by U.S. officials as a last-ditch push for peace, followed the collapse earlier this month of U.N.-supported peace talks because of a sweeping offensive in northern Syria by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The international coordinating group — involving opponents of the Syrian leader, such as the United States, and his backers: Russia and Iran — agreed in Munich last week to hold discussions in Geneva over the truce. That agreement, described by U.S. officials as a last-ditch effort for peace after talks to end the conflict collapsed this month, called for a cessation of hostilities within a week and immediate deliveries of aid to besieged Syrians.
Government forces have made sweeping advances against rebels around the strategic city of Aleppo with the help of Iranian-led militiamen and airstrikes from Russia, an ally of the Syrian leader that intervened in the conflict on his behalf in September. But the Geneva meeting was pushed back until Friday, highlighting obstacles to brokering a cease-fire, although aid groups did manage to deliver food and medicine to five besieged towns Wednesday.
Russian airstrikes have since pulverized rebel groups and helped turn the tide of the civil war. U.N. officials said Thursday that they plan more aid shipments. This would include the World Food Program using Russian airplanes to airdrop food and medicine to the nearly 200,000 people who are besieged in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor by the Islamic State militant group.
Birnbaum reported from Moscow. Daniela Deane contributed from London. Both rebel forces and the government are besieging hundreds of thousands of people across Syria, placing them at risk of starvation and other complications related to a lack of adequate food and medicine. Dozens of people have died from starvation-related causes in the government-besieged town of Madaya, near the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to residents and aid groups.
Jan Egeland, who is an advisor to Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy to Syria, said in a statement Thursday that an agreement had been reached to provide aid to “all of the remaining besieged areas of Syria” before a meeting next week.
Still, de Mistura painted a grim picture of efforts to reduce hostilities in an interview he gave with Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish newspaper. In it, he all but said that the hoped-for resumption of peace talks on Feb. 25 would not happen.
“We need real talks about peace, not just talks about talks,” de Mistura is quoted as saying in remarks that were published Thursday and translated by the Associated Press.
The U.N. envoy has faced even more difficulty as pro-government forces advance in Aleppo and other areas of Syria. Those successes have in large part been a consequence of Russia’s intervention in September to prevent Assad from falling.
Since then, rebel groups have been pulverized by Moscow’s air raids. The Syrian military – with help from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and allied Iranian fighters – have threatened to cut off supply lines that run from Turkey to rebel groups in Aleppo and surrounding areas.
At the same time, a Kurdish-led force known as the Syria Democratic Forces has seized areas in the north from rebels. Turkey has responded with cross-border shelling to those advances, which it fears could embolden separatists within its own Kurdish population.
Birnbaum reported from Moscow. Daniela Deane contributed from London and Karen DeYoung contributed from Washington.