International News

LAUSANNE, Oct 15, (APP/AFP) – Top diplomats were to meet in Switzerland Saturday in a fresh push to revive a ceasefire in Syria, after pro-government forces intensified their bombardment of the battered city of Aleppo. Since the collapse of a truce last month, Aleppo has been ravaged by a major onslaught by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, which has prompted renewed efforts to secure a pause in the fighting. With Washington and Moscow backing opposite sides in the five-year war, the talks in Lausanne will bring together US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with top diplomats from the UN and regional powers including Iran. Kerry plans to hold one-to-one meetings with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and then with Lavrov before the multilateral talks start later in the afternoon, a US official said. Both sides have played down hopes of a breakthrough, with Lavrov telling reporters on Friday he had no “special expectations” of progress, while a senior official in Kerry’s entourage said the aim was to explore ideas for ending the fighting. The talks come as Moscow faces growing criticism over its backing for Assad’s assault in divided Aleppo, prompting Western allegations of possible war crimes. Intense air strikes hit rebel-held districts of east Aleppo again on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground.