WASHINGTON (AP) Oct 28, 2015 – Secretary of State John Kerry is heading into another round of talks on Syria with the monumental task of charting “a course out of hell.”
Before leaving, Kerry offered a dire assessment of Syria’s four-year civil war at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
He cited harrowing statistics: one in 20 Syrians killed or wounded; one in five now refugees; average life expectancy down 20 years.
Kerry also said the U.S. was stepping up military efforts against the Islamic State.
He said airstrikes are targeting the 70-mile stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border that militants still control. And the U.S. will help moderate rebels to pressure the Islamic State’s self-styled capital of Raqqa.