Key Players In Syria Peace Process To Meet Tuesday In New York: US

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published September 19, 2016 | 10:40 PM

NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -19th Sept,2016) :- The United States, Russia and other key players in the Syria peace process will meet Tuesday in New York after Syria's army announced the end of a week-long truce, a US spokesman said.

Foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) comprised of some 20 countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey will assess the situation, said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner.

The meeting "will be obviously a very important signal check ...to assess the agreement, the status of agreement that was reached with the US and Russia little over a week ago, and where we are, and what next steps need to be taken, where we need to see more improvement," he said.

The ISSG meeting comes ahead of a UN Security Council session on \ Syria to be held Wednesday, to be attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. After months of negotiations, the United States and Russia agreed on September 9 to call for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria.

The ceasefire ran into trouble at the weekend when rebel-held districts of Aleppo came under a barrage of air strikes and the US-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in an attack that Washington said was unintentional.

Earlier, Russia's defense ministry had appeared to bury the week-old truce, saying rebel violations made it "pointless" for Syrian troops to uphold it. Syria's armed forces announced an end to the week-long truce on Monday evening, accusing rebel groups of violating the ceasefire more than 300 times.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said "it will not be an easy meeting" because of worsening US-Russia tensions, but he said all sides must try to work to revive peace efforts. "We all need to take responsibility," Ayrault said.

The faltering US-Russian deal for Syria is set to dominate the agenda as world leaders gather at the United Nations this week for the annual General Assembly meeting.