Kerry, Lavrov push to finalise co-op deal
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Sergei Lavrov yesterday sought to finalise an agreement on fighting Islamist militants in Syria as the first evacuees left a besieged Damascus surbub under a plan which has aroused the UN's concern.
A deal on fighting jihadists in Syria could help lead to an end to fighting between the army and its militia allies on one side and non-jihadist rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. This could pave the way for talks on a political transition to end the five-year Syrian conflict.
As Kerry and the Russian foreign minister met at a hotel on Lake Geneva, residents and insurgents began to leave the beseieged Damascus suburb of Daraya where civilians have been trapped since 2012, Reuters witnesses said.
Rebels and Syria's army agreed the plan on Thursday to evacuate all the 4,000 residents and some 700 insurgents from Daraya in the coming days, ending one of the longest stand-offs in the civil war.
But the United Nations was not consulted on the plan and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and UN humanitarian coordinator Stephen O'Brien, voiced deep concern about it yesterday.
"It is imperative that people of Daraya are protected in any evacuation that takes place, and that this takes place voluntarily," de Mistura, who leads UN political and humanitarian efforts in Syria, said in a statement after holding talks with Kerry and Lavrov.
Senior White House officials from the National Security Council (NSC) joined the talks between Kerry and Lavrov, which broke after four hours, but were set to resume later.
When Kerry launched the Syrian cooperation talks in July during a visit to Moscow, the proposal involved Washington and Moscow sharing military intelligence to coordinate air strikes against Islamic State and grounding the Syrian air force to stop it from attacking moderate rebel groups.
Kerry believes the plan is the best chance to limit fighting that is driving thousands of Syrians into exile in Europe and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more.
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