The United States refused to say its diplomatic efforts to end the war in Syria had failed as Secretary of State John Kerry spoke again with his Russian counterpart. The collapse of a Russian and Turkish-brokered bid to end the siege of a shrinking rebel-held pocket of Aleppo has underlined the disarray in efforts to end the conflict.
But according to the State Department, Kerry intends to soldier on with efforts to convince Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s international backers to force a truce.