US-Russia tensions rise as Munich Syria talks kick off
Washington condemns Moscow's ceasefire offer and calls for an immediate halt to fighting in Syria, as a meeting in Munich aimed at reviving the peace talks gets underway.
4 min read
John Kerry is hopeful for 'a telling moment' in Munich [AFP]
Moscow's proposed Syria ceasefire gives Russia enough time to crush rebel groups before it kicks into effect, US officials have said, as fresh talks in Munich are set to revived peace negotiations.
Russia's offer of a ceasefire starting 1 March was unacceptable to Washington, as "moderate" opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before it takes hold, a US official said on Wednesday.
US officials were not authorised to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich meeting and demanded anonymity.
Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for accusing Moscow of targeting "wrong objects", yet refusing to exchange intelligence on Islamic State group targets.
The Kremlin has reportedly shared its own intelligence with the Pentagon, which has been "gratefully taken" - but the sharing has not been reciprocated, said Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konasshenkov on Thursday.
Russian airstrikes were reported to have hit around 1,900 targets in Syria last week.
The Russian defence ministry listed targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah and Raqqa.
The comments come ahead of fresh meetings in Munich on Thursday led by US and Russian foreign ministers and set to include the 17-nation Syria contact group.
Munich talks
The meeting of the International Syria Support Group [ISSG] in Munich aims to restart peace negotiations that failed in Vienna last month, and are set to include foreign ministers from 17 states, most notably the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany on Wednesday, was hopeful.
"We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," Kerry said on Tuesday in Washington.
The failure of the Geneva peace talks has been blamed on the concurrent major escalation of Russian airstrikes and Syrian regime advances in the Aleppo province.
NATO outline
Kerry's peace push coincides with US Defence Secretary Ash Carter's visit to Brussels, planned to hash out military options to defeat IS militants with NATO partners.
The gathering of more than two dozen countries contributing to the war against IS in Syria and Iraq is expected to endorse a US plan for accelerating the campaign this year, said Carter.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Carter said he would lay out details of the campaign plan in an afternoon meeting with allies and non-NATO partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
In doing so, he said he would ask the others to find ways to increase or broaden contributions, either militarily or financially.
The US is determined to accelerate the war campaign and recapture the Islamic State group's main strongholds in Syria and Iraq, Carter said.
Aleppo offensive 'enabling IS'
Meanwhile, Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating IS, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and into the war against Syria's government.
"What Russia's doing is directly enabling [IS]," McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.
But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.
"It seems as if we're only half-heartedly going after [IS], and half-heartedly helping the Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Eliot Engel.
Engel urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in to destroy IS and get rid of Assad".
Kerry emphasised on Tuesday that US officials "are not blind to what is happening".
The Aleppo battle makes it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation", he added.
But the US has pinned its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the US public had no appetite for a military solution.
To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power.
To get Russia on board, it now will not even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.
The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 and beyond.
Russia's offer of a ceasefire starting 1 March was unacceptable to Washington, as "moderate" opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before it takes hold, a US official said on Wednesday.
US officials were not authorised to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich meeting and demanded anonymity.
Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for accusing Moscow of targeting "wrong objects", yet refusing to exchange intelligence on Islamic State group targets.
The Kremlin has reportedly shared its own intelligence with the Pentagon, which has been "gratefully taken" - but the sharing has not been reciprocated, said Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konasshenkov on Thursday.
Russian airstrikes were reported to have hit around 1,900 targets in Syria last week.
The Russian defence ministry listed targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah and Raqqa.
The comments come ahead of fresh meetings in Munich on Thursday led by US and Russian foreign ministers and set to include the 17-nation Syria contact group.
Munich talks
The meeting of the International Syria Support Group [ISSG] in Munich aims to restart peace negotiations that failed in Vienna last month, and are set to include foreign ministers from 17 states, most notably the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany on Wednesday, was hopeful.
"We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," Kerry said on Tuesday in Washington.
The failure of the Geneva peace talks has been blamed on the concurrent major escalation of Russian airstrikes and Syrian regime advances in the Aleppo province.
 |
What Russia's doing is directly enabling [IS] |  |
NATO outline
Kerry's peace push coincides with US Defence Secretary Ash Carter's visit to Brussels, planned to hash out military options to defeat IS militants with NATO partners.
The gathering of more than two dozen countries contributing to the war against IS in Syria and Iraq is expected to endorse a US plan for accelerating the campaign this year, said Carter.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Carter said he would lay out details of the campaign plan in an afternoon meeting with allies and non-NATO partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
In doing so, he said he would ask the others to find ways to increase or broaden contributions, either militarily or financially.
The US is determined to accelerate the war campaign and recapture the Islamic State group's main strongholds in Syria and Iraq, Carter said.
Aleppo offensive 'enabling IS'
Meanwhile, Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating IS, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and into the war against Syria's government.
"What Russia's doing is directly enabling [IS]," McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.
But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.
"It seems as if we're only half-heartedly going after [IS], and half-heartedly helping the Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Eliot Engel.
Engel urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in to destroy IS and get rid of Assad".
Kerry emphasised on Tuesday that US officials "are not blind to what is happening".
The Aleppo battle makes it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation", he added.
But the US has pinned its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the US public had no appetite for a military solution.
To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power.
To get Russia on board, it now will not even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.
The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 and beyond.
Agencies contributed to this report
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