Vienna (AFP) – Top diplomats from Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Friday failed to make any major breakthrough on how to end the Syrian conflict, with the sides sharply at odds on the future of Bashar al-Assad.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped to reconvene another, “broader” meeting on Syria as early as October 30.
The crunch talks at a Vienna hotel brought together Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with their Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and Turkey’s Feridun Sinirlioglu.
The foreign ministers met three weeks after Moscow thrust itself into the heart of the crisis by launching a bombing campaign in support of Assad that has drawn sharp condemnation from the west.
Washington, Riyadh and Ankara — which all back groups fighting Assad — were sounding out Lavrov after the embattled Syrian tyrant made a surprise visit to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin this week.
But the atmosphere appeared frosty, and there was scant progress on resolving almost five years of war with the sides at loggerheads over the future of Assad.
“What we agreed to do today is to consult with all parties and aim to reconvene, hopefully as early as next Friday with a broader meeting in order to explore whether there is sufficient common ground to advance a meaningful political process,” Kerry told journalists after the meeting.