Kerry sees problems in Syria opposition pact

The United States warned Friday that some problems remain to be resolved in a pact between Syrian opposition forces if U.N.-backed peace talks are to resume next week. 


Secretary of State John Kerry said he would talk with his Saudi counterpart about how to fix problems in the deal reached Thursday by Syrian rebel groups meeting in Riyadh.
"There are some questions and obviously a couple of, in our judgment, kinks to be worked out," he said. 
"And I'm confident that they're going to be worked out so I'll be having conversations with them during the course of today."
Asked whether a planned December 18 international meeting on the Syria conflict would go ahead in New York, Kerry said: "We'll have to see.
"I have to hear what the answers are to some questions that we have today, then we'll let you know."
Later on Friday, the U.S. State Department said Kerry will head to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with President Vladimir Putin on the Syrian crisis and the fight against the Islamic State group.
"They will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a political transition in Syria," spokesman Mark Toner said on Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Paris. 
The talks will also cover differences in the parallel Russian and U.S. approaches to the fight against the IS in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. envoy will also bring up the ongoing stand-off in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow stands accused of supporting pro-Russian separatist rebels, Toner said. 
Kerry will also meet his counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
He arrives overnight from Paris for a day of high-level dialogue before flying back to Washington.
The United States and Russia are the key sponsors of the international bid to mediate an end to the Syrian civil war through the International Syrian Support Group.
This 17-nation contact group had been planning to meet in New York under United Nations auspices on December 18 to push forward plans for a negotiated ceasefire.
But Moscow and Washington were awaiting the results of a meeting between Syria's splintered opposition and rebel movements before confirming the date of meeting.
The rebels met on Thursday in Saudi Arabia and afterwards announced the composition of their team to open negotiations with the government of President Bashar Assad.
But they also insisted that Assad must step down immediately at the start of the political transition process, which has a January 1 target date.
This insistence may be a sticking point for Assad's allies in Moscow.
Kerry said that he had spoken to Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir since the deal was signed.
Speaking to reporters he did not outline what his reservations with the deal were, but it is important to Washington that Russia is comfortable with the agreement.
Moscow is a close ally of President Bashar Assad.
It had said it would confirm whether the next week's planned meeting of the 17 nations of the International Syrian Support Group could go ahead after the rebel talks

Source: NNA