GENEVA (AP) – The Latest on Syrian peace talks in Geneva (all times local):
11:15 am
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Russia sees no reason to stop its airstrikes in Syria.
“The goal of the operation is to defeat the terrorist organizations the Islamic State and Nusra Front. I don’t see any reason why the air campaign should be stopped as long the terrorists are not defeated,” Lavrov said Wednesday in Muskat, Oman, the state news agency Tass reported.
As food and medical aid heads for a besieged, rebel-held suburb of Damascus, Syrian government forces and their allies are pressing forward in a powerful offensive in northern Syria in an apparent bid to encircle the country’s biggest city, where various rebel groups control many neighborhoods.
