US, Russia Fail to Reach a Deal on Syria

Kerry: We Don't Want a Deal for the Sake of the Deal

10 hours of talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ended today with no deal in place, saying they made only incremental progress on a deal for cooperation in their respective wars in Syria, and no deal is imminent.

The talks both centered on the possibility of a 48-hour ceasefire in Aleppo to allow more humanitarian aid into the area and weeks of efforts to come up with some sort of deal on joint military operations against the Nusra Front, though the US seems to be souring on that idea.

Kerry insisted that the US “don’t want to have a deal for the sake of the deal,” and only wants something that leads to a political solution in Syria. In previous instances, this has meant the US going back to demanding unconditional regime change and nothing being agreed to.

Both sides insisted after the failed talks that they would continue to “hash out details” on a pact, though with little US interest in going after Nusra Front anymore, and Turkey’s invasion adding to the already complicated war, the odds of a final pact coming any time soon seem pretty remote.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.