LONDON -- The world powers working to promote a resolution to Syria's civil war plan to resume talks next week in Vienna, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.
Speaking at the U.S. Embassy in London, Kerry said the 17-member International Syria Support Group will meet Tuesday. The group is co-led by the U.S. and Russia but includes Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others.
Kerry added that the United Nations-led indirect peace talks between the Syrian opposition and President Bashar Assad's government likely will resume "some days" after the Vienna meeting. Those U.N.-led talks have been stalled since the opposition suspended participation last month in protest.
The August deadline that the U.S. has set for starting a political transition was a target, not a drop-dead endpoint for negotiations, Kerry said. The U.S. ultimatum has spurred speculation that if the deadline is blown, U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia might respond by giving the opposition stronger weapons to fight Assad, including portable surface-to-air missiles.
"If by Aug. 1 nothing is happening, it will be exceedingly difficult to look anybody in the eye, the opposition and others and say we're making progress," Kerry said. "That in and of itself will be dangerous because then those people may well decide they're just going to up the ante militarily."
Kerry said the Vienna talks aim to build on a U.S.-Russia agreement announced Monday to try to restore a nationwide cease-fire. He said negotiators will discuss the truce's duration and enforcement, plus the political process.
The limited cease-fire in Aleppo, once Syria's largest city, and its surrounding countryside was extended for the third time, for another 48 hours starting at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Bassma Kodmani, a member of the opposition-backed Higher Negotiating Committee, said Monday that an extension of the cease-fire beyond Aleppo and improvements in delivering humanitarian aid should make a return to talks possible.
"When the Russians decide to use their influence, things happen," Kodmani said. "We see who holds the power."
Russia and the U.S. said in a joint statement Monday that they're "determined to improve and sustain" the cessation of hostilities. Russia, whose military campaign in Syria has bolstered Assad, also agreed to press the Syrian government to "minimize aviation" operations over areas inhabited mostly by civilians or rebel groups that have signed on to the cease-fire.
In a sign of Russia's embedded role in Syria, President Vladimir Putin said Russia's new weapons have proved their worth in Syria, helping turn the tide of the war.
Putin said at a meeting with military officials in Moscow that Russian warplanes have flown more than 10,000 combat missions since the air campaign began on Sept. 30. He said they struck more than 30,000 targets, including 200 oil facilities, allowing the Syrian military to drive militants from 500 towns and villages.
"The efficiency and high quality of Russian weapons have been clearly shown in Syria," Putin said. "The strikes from the air and from the sea on the Islamic State and Nusra Front terrorist groups have been precise and powerful. They have allowed us to achieve a turning point in the fight against the militants, although we realize that the situation there is difficult and there is still a lot for the Syrian army to do."
The Russian military pulled out some of its warplanes from Syria in March but has continued to strike the Islamic State extremist group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, which are not party to the cease-fire.
Putin voiced hope that a Russian-U.S. dialogue on Syria will help achieve positive results. "The most important thing is to create conditions for a political settlement in the country," he said.
Despite the extended government cease-fire and promises to renew peace talks, fighting continued in the northwestern province of Idlib.
Two airstrikes Tuesday struck the city of Binnish, about 40 miles southwest of Aleppo, killing at least 10 people, wounding many others and knocking out the dome of a mosque, opposition activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll is expected to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition. The Local Coordination Committees said some of the wounded have not been identified.
"Most of the 10 people killed were passers-by," said Muayad Zurayk, an opposition activist based in the nearby Jabal al-Zawiya region. "The situation is appalling in this region because of daily massacres."
The Local Coordination Committees said the warplanes were Syrian while the Observatory said it wasn't clear if they were Syrian or Russian.
The Observatory said those killed included a rebel commander of a faction linked to the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham militia. The militia is part of the Jaish al-Fatah coalition, made up of several groups including al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front, and other jihadi militias.
Jaish al-Fatah, or Army of Conquest, last week began a wide offensive near Aleppo, capturing the village of Khan Touman and killing dozens of fighters, including 13 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
The Observatory also reported that the Islamic State began an offensive in the northeastern province of Hassakeh where the extremists have lost a lot of territory in the past few months in battles with predominantly Kurdish fighters.
It said the attack near the former Islamic State stronghold of Shaddadeh began with two suicide attacks that targeted the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces.
The two activist groups also reported intense clashes between the Islamic State and government forces near the T4 air base in the central province of Homs.
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Lederman, Bassem Mroue and staff members of The Associated Press and by Henry Meyer, Rachel Layne and Gregory Viscusi of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 05/11/2016