Syria talks hosted by John Kerry end without agreement on next move

Talks on the crisis in Syria convened by John Kerry in the Swiss city of Lausanne have ended after more than four hours without a joint ministerial statement from the nine countries taking part. 

The US secretary of state said the meeting in Switzerland with top diplomats from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and others was candid and constructive. He said some ideas “might be able to shape different approaches” toward a peace process in Syria.

However, he offered no indication of any immediate steps to respond to what he describes as “the urgency of Aleppo, the urgency of trying to find something that works other than military action,” but said contacts among foreign ministers would continue in the coming days following Saturday’s meeting.

The US secretary of state was seeking a new path to peace after failing to secure a ceasefire in direct talks with Russia amid growing international outrage over the Russian and Syrian bombardment of rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

Kerry hosted the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and seven foreign ministers from the region – from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – weeks after the collapse of a painstakingly crafted US-Russian ceasefire plan that many saw as the last hope for peace this year.

Lavrov, who had said he had “no special expectations” for the meeting, later told Russian news agencies that the countries had agreed to continue contacts in the near future aimed at ending the Syria crisis. The parties had discussed several “interesting ideas”, he said without elaboration

“This is going to be, as it has been now for several years, a very difficult process,” a senior US official said before the talks began.

Europe was not represented at the meeting, held in a luxury hotel on Lake Geneva. But France’s foreign ministry confirmed that foreign ministers of like-minded nations planned to meet to discuss Syria in London on Sunday.

Earlier, Kerry met separately with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and with Lavrov to discuss the logistics of the meeting. 

It was the first meeting between Kerry and Lavrov since the collapse of a second attempted ceasefire in September.

The US was expected to once again push Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Aleppo, and Russia was seen as insisting on separating moderate opposition groups from those it considers terrorists.