Kerry, Salman discuss Syria in Jeddah

Source: theiranproject.com --- Sunday, May 15, 2016
US secretary of State John Kerry has met with King Salman of saudiarabia to discuss the Syrian conflict, before heading to Vienna for broader international talks. “I want to thank you for the many things that saudiarabia is working on with us to great effect,” Kerry told Salman at the beginning of their closed-door meeting in the saudi city of Jeddah on Sunday. The two discussed mutual cooperation and the latest developments in the Middle East, including the US-Russia mediated ceasefire in Syria which has been undermined by militants in some areas, local media reported. Washington and Moscow agreed earlier this month on extending a “cessation of hostilities” they had brokered in February to Aleppo, which has been divided between government forces in the west and foreign-backed militants in the east since 2012. However, reports on Thursday suggested that militants from two major Syrian militant groups, namely al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, carried out a massive dawn raid on Zara, south of Hama, looted homes, killed children, women and elderly and abducted a number of people. Kerry said on Friday that in his meetings with the king and the saudi interior and defense ministers he would try “to make sure that we can get this cessation better footed and, frankly, better observed and implemented throughout the country.” The US, saudiarabia and a number of other Western countries, along with Persian Gulf monarchies and Turkey back ...