U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the situation in Syria had “dramatically deteriorated” since the “brief oasis of calm” following a cessation- of-hostilities agreement, and he promised that the U.S. and Russia were close to a new agreement on a more durable arrangement.
Kerry spoke in Geneva after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They discussed ways to agree on military cooperation and information sharing in a bid to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria — something both sides want.
Kerry said that Syrians benefited from the calm following the February accord, but that the gains were lost again when violations of the agreement began.
He said “the cessation, even flawed, was valuable.” But he said violations “eventually became the norm, rather than the exception.” READ MORE OF THIS STORY
SPOURCES: VOA News Online
