Talks Seek to Extend Fragile Syrian Truce to Northern City of Aleppo

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that negotiations were underway to extend a fragile cease-fire agreement in Syria to the embattled northern city of Aleppo, which has been nearly torn apart by a surge of violence in recent weeks. Mr. Kerry was in Geneva to meet with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria; Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia; the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura; and other officials. “We’re getting closer to a place of understanding” on Aleppo, Mr. Kerry said. “But we have some work to do, and that’s why we’re here.” Mr. Jubeir offered a forceful account of the situation in Aleppo, which before Syria’s five-year-old civil war was a thriving commercial and cultural center. “What is happening in Aleppo is an outrage,” he said. “It’s a violation of all humanitarian laws. It’s a crime.” He directly accused President Bashar al-Assad of Syria of violating a cease-fire agreement that has steadily eroded since it was arranged in February, despite American and Russian backing. “There is only one side that is flying airplanes, and that is Bashar al-Assad and his allies, so they are responsible for the massacre of women, children and the elderly,” Mr. Jubeir said. “They are responsible for the murder of doctors and medical personnel, and this situation, any way you slice it, will not stand. The world is not going to allow them to get away with this.” Although Aleppo is dominating the headlines, Mr. Kerry’s broader priority is reviving the delicate temporary truce that had appeared to hold until recently. In noting that the partial truce had fallen apart in some parts of Syria, Mr. Kerry acknowledged what has been clear for more than a week on the ground: The relative respite from violence brought by the two-month reduction in hostilities has come to a resounding end in many areas — especially Aleppo, where more than 200 people have died in the past week, most of them civilians. About two-thirds of those deaths have been on the rebel-held side of town, which is being pummeled anew by airstrikes and by bombs dropped from helicopters, including on a hospital. But both sides have demonstrated a disregard for civilian life, with rebels firing mortar shells and missiles last week toward most of the government-held neighborhoods in Aleppo, in one of their worst barrages in recent months. Yet as Mr. Kerry carries out shuttle diplomacy to try to revive the partial truce, it has been renewed in several areas, though not in Aleppo, where it is needed most. The Syrian Army said in a statement on Monday that a temporary truce in the suburbs of Damascus and in the coastal province of Latakia would be extended for an additional 48 hours. The Tass news agency in Russia quoted Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko, head of the Russian coordination center in Syria, as saying only that talks about a cease-fire for Aleppo were continuing. The sticking point is apparently an unwillingness on the part of Russia to tell the Syrian government to stop its aerial bombardments on insurgent-held areas there. Mr. Kerry, as well as residents and opposition figures, insist that the Syrian government’s warplanes, in a campaign aided by Russia, are predominantly hitting areas not controlled by the Nusra Front, which has only a small presence in the city of Aleppo. Instead, they are believed to be striking areas controlled by other insurgent groups, including some backed by the United States and its allies. The United States is considering whether to draw up a detailed map of so-called safe zones, in which civilians and member of moderate opposition groups could seek shelter from attacks by Mr. Assad’s military, The Associated Press reported. It was not immediately clear whether Russia would accept such a plan or whether Moscow could persuade the Assad government to respect the zones. Such an agreement is also unlikely to be helpful if the sides cannot agree on what constitutes the violations the monitors are supposed to be watching for. Even if so-called hard lines were drawn on a map, and civilians and insurgents not affiliated with the Nusra Front were encouraged to go there, the plan would face major practical problems, given the difficulty of moving safely within the city. Rebel groups might not agree to give up areas that Russia believes are held by the Nusra Front, arguing that, in fact, they are held by local opposition fighters and seeing the plan as a ploy to allow the government to take them back. Anne Barnard reported from Beirut, and Sewell Chan from London. News Credited by: New York times http://www.nytimes.com/