Obama Asks Putin to Help Halt Assad Offensive in Syria
Source: ABC News
President Barack Obama spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin tonight to urge him to use Russia’s influence to halt escalating fighting in both Syria and Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.
Shelling has been increasing along the front line in eastern Ukraine, which has laid largely dormant since last year, while the partial cease-fire in Syria negotiated by Moscow and Washington, D.C., in February tonight appeared to be on the verge of final collapse.
The Syrian opposition announced it was suspending its participation in United Nations-brokered talks in Geneva, while rebel groups inside Syria declared a major offensive against government forces in retaliation for continuing airstrikes. The announcements potentially herald an end to the partial truce that had dramatically reduced violence in Syria and threaten to definitively torpedo the Geneva talks, seen as the best hope of ending the five-year conflict.
The opposition blamed the renewed violence on offensives by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom they've accused of pounding areas under rebel control and of launching an advance against the city of Aleppo. A representative for the main opposition negotiating group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which is backed by the U.S., said talks could not continue while government troops conducted major attacks on the opposition.
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/obama-asks-putin-halt-assad-offensive-syria/story?id=38492487
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