International News

BERLIN, (APP/AFP) – US Secretary of State John Kerry
warned Syria’s Bashar al-Assad of “repercussions” if his regime
flouts a new truce under negotiation, as talks to halt the violence
shifted to Berlin Wednesday.
Russia has said a new ceasefire to halt fighting in Aleppo
could be imminent, with Syria’s divided northern city hit by a
wave of violence that has killed more than 270 people since
April 22.
With the UN Security Council to meet on the crisis later
Wednesday, diplomatic efforts to stem the violence shifted to
Berlin, where German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was
to hold talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, Syria’s main opposition leader Riad Hijab and France’s top diplomat Jean-Marc
Ayrault.
And in the western German city of Stuttgart, US Defence
Secretary Ash Carter was meeting representatives from 10 countries
in the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and
Iraq to discuss “accelerating” the campaign.
Renewed fighting between regime and rebel forces has centred
on Syria’s second city Aleppo. Fierce clashes raged overnight on its
outskirts after a major rebel offensive, after Kerry issued a stark
warning to Assad if his government failed to abide by the new
deal.
“If Assad does not adhere to (the new ceasefire), there
will clearly be repercussions and one of them may be the total
destruction of the ceasefire and they go back to war,” Kerry
told reporters after returning from an earlier round of talks
in Geneva.
“I don’t think that Russia wants that. I don’t think Assad
is going to benefit from that,” he added.