Top diplomats gather in Switzerland to address Syrian crisis

Together with high-level diplomats from key regional partners, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov convened in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday to discuss the Syrian crisis which has been raging since 2011.

The multilateral framework involved foreign ministers from Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, Qatar as well as the UN Special Envoy for Syria.

Taking place in a luxurious lakeside hotel, the latest round of talks came against the backdrop of failed bilateral efforts between the United States and Russia.

A short-lived ceasefire was brokered last month by Kerry and Lavrov after lengthy talks in Geneva.

The cessation of hostilities, which came into effect on Sept. 12, was meant to enable much needed humanitarian aid to reach civilians living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas. It was also hoped to catalyse enhanced military cooperation between both countries and renew momentum towards resuming talks seeking to broker an end to the conflict that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.

An upsurge in violence took place only a few hours after the week-long truce expired on Sept. 19 however.

Washington subsequently suspended negotiations with Moscow on restoring a ceasefire in Syria on Oct. 3 after blaming Moscow for its alleged military role in attacks on the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Kerry is scheduled to meet with more international partners in London on Sunday to further discuss a multilateral approach to resolving the Syrian civil war. Endit