NEW YORK (AP) – Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed hoped that a cease-fire in Syria brokered by the United States and Russia could still hold, despite a declaration from the Syrian military that the truce is over amid other indications the latest international attempt to quiet the fighting has failed.
Shortly after Syria’s armed forces declared that the truce was dead and blamed opposition rebels for undermining it, Kerry noted that the cease-fire had not produced the desired reduction in violence and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid. But he said some aid was finally moving.
“We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods,” Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Those seven days of calm and aid deliveries were required before the U.S. and Russia could embark on a plan to cooperate in targeting the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates working in Syria.
He denounced the Syrian military declaration, but also suggested that Russia was partly to blame.
“It would be good if they didn’t talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this,” he said. “As I said yesterday, (it’s) time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access.”