Stung by years of failure to stop Syria’s bloodshed, the United States is now but a bystander to the civil war as President Barack Obama leaves office.
Secretary of State John Kerry still is speaking sporadically with Russian, Turkish and Arab Foreign Ministers about cease-fire efforts, and there are occasional consultations with the opposition. But less than two weeks before Donald Trump’s presidency begins, the outgoing administration is no longer even claiming to play the leading part in the peace mediation that it spearheaded unsuccessfully for years. Formal contacts with Russia and others in Geneva, the main meeting point for the U.S.-led diplomacy, have ended.
leadership has been ceded to Russia and, to a lesser degree, Turkey and Iran. After helping Syria’s military oust the remaining rebels in Aleppo last month, Moscow has cast itself as the would-be peacemaker, clinching a new truce without Washington’s help and announcing Friday that it was starting to draw down its forces in the region. Russian envoys also are organising the first talks between the Syrian Government and opposition in nearly a year, set for later this month in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“We still are at the proverbial table,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Friday. “We may not be at the table in Astana, we may not be at the table in Moscow, I understand that. But it’s not like we are walking away from Syria.”