Roundup: Russia, Syria, Iran vow to defend intra-Syria talks for political settlement

Top diplomats of Russia, Syria and Iran on Friday vowed to defend the revival of intra-Syria talks in order to facilitate a political solution to the protracted crisis in the war-torn Middle East country.

"We agreed to return to the cessation of hostilities regime and defend the urgent start of intra-Syria talks, while solving issues of improving the humanitarian situation there," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a joint briefing after a trilateral meeting with his Syrian and Iranian counterparts in Moscow.

All the three parties reaffirmed that there is no alternative to the settlement of the Syria crisis by political and diplomatic means.

"We believe that the Syria settlement is only possible with the help of a dialogue between different Syrian groups," said Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. "There is no military solution to it."

Russia and Iran confirmed their support for sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as their readiness to jointly fight terrorists and restore peace in the country, Lavrov told reporters.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said earlier on Friday that the Syrian government is ready to resume truce and immediately return to intra-Syria talks "without external interference," obviously in reference to the United States.

In a sign of support for the statement, Lavrov said Russia and Iran agreed to stand behind the intention of the Syrian authorities by sending as soon as possible a government delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, for negotiations with representatives of all opposition groups under the aegis of the United Nations.

The situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo has increasingly deteriorated following the collapse of the ceasefire agreement Russia and the United States brokered, with each side accusing the other of violating the hard-earned truce deal in September.

Earlier this month, the United States unilaterally suspended talks with Russia over truce-mending efforts, which provoked a renewed round of diplomatic spat between the two powers.

Moscow has blamed Washington for breaking its promise of separating the so-called "moderate" opposition from terrorist groups in Syria, which it believes led to the failure of their deal.

On Oct. 18, Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, together with the foreign ministers of some regional powers, met in the Swiss city of Lausanne for discussions of restarting the political process in Syria.

The talks ended with no major breakthrough in settling the five-year-long crisis, but only participants' promises to continue contacts. Endi