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| Attacks in Paris Add Urgency to Talks on Ending Syria War | Attacks in Paris Add Urgency to Talks on Ending Syria War |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| VIENNA — The top diplomats from more than a dozen countries met here on Saturday for talks on ending the crisis in Syria, vowing to redouble their efforts to confront terrorism after the deadly attacks in Paris. | |
| The carnage in France provided a grim backdrop and somber urgency for the negotiations, aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Syria and paving the way for a political transition there that could end four years of civil war. | The carnage in France provided a grim backdrop and somber urgency for the negotiations, aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Syria and paving the way for a political transition there that could end four years of civil war. |
| “It is more necessary than ever in the current circumstance to coordinate the international fight against terrorism,” Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said as the meetings began. | “It is more necessary than ever in the current circumstance to coordinate the international fight against terrorism,” Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said as the meetings began. |
| Secretary of State John Kerry said the attacks in Paris and recently in Iraq and Beirut , Lebanon, were “the most vile, horrendous, outrageous, unacceptable acts on the planet.” He added that they were born of “a kind of medieval and modern fascism at the same time, which has no regard for life, which seeks to destroy and create chaos and disorder and fear.” | |
| “The one thing we could say to those people is that what they do in this is stiffen our resolve, all of us, to fight back, to hold people accountable and to stand up for rule of law, which is exactly what we are here to do,” Mr. Kerry said after meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia and before sitting down with the rest of the ministers assembled for the talks. “And if they’ve done anything, they’ve encouraged us today to do even harder work to make progress and to help resolve the crises that we face.” | “The one thing we could say to those people is that what they do in this is stiffen our resolve, all of us, to fight back, to hold people accountable and to stand up for rule of law, which is exactly what we are here to do,” Mr. Kerry said after meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia and before sitting down with the rest of the ministers assembled for the talks. “And if they’ve done anything, they’ve encouraged us today to do even harder work to make progress and to help resolve the crises that we face.” |
| Still, the challenges in Syria are steep, and Mr. Kerry has conceded in recent days that they will not be quickly resolved. The negotiations involve a diverse set of players with conflicting agendas — including the United States, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia — and there is no clear consensus on the most pressing issues. Syrians were absent from the meetings in Vienna discussing their fate, with no representatives for either President Bashar al-Assad or the constellation of opposition groups vying to oust him. | Still, the challenges in Syria are steep, and Mr. Kerry has conceded in recent days that they will not be quickly resolved. The negotiations involve a diverse set of players with conflicting agendas — including the United States, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia — and there is no clear consensus on the most pressing issues. Syrians were absent from the meetings in Vienna discussing their fate, with no representatives for either President Bashar al-Assad or the constellation of opposition groups vying to oust him. |
| Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, who had planned to skip the meeting, canceled a scheduled trip in light of the Paris attacks and traveled to Vienna to huddle with his counterparts on Syria. | Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, who had planned to skip the meeting, canceled a scheduled trip in light of the Paris attacks and traveled to Vienna to huddle with his counterparts on Syria. |
| Mr. Kerry has stepped up the pace of the diplomatic effort on Syria in recent weeks in order to make headway on the seemingly intractable situation. On Thursday, he cast the effort as a central element of the Obama administration’s strategy to marshal a broad international effort to isolate and defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. | Mr. Kerry has stepped up the pace of the diplomatic effort on Syria in recent weeks in order to make headway on the seemingly intractable situation. On Thursday, he cast the effort as a central element of the Obama administration’s strategy to marshal a broad international effort to isolate and defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. |
| Mr. Fabius said Saturday that the terrorism in his country underlined the urgency of the Syria talks. | Mr. Fabius said Saturday that the terrorism in his country underlined the urgency of the Syria talks. |
| “One of the topics of the meeting today in Vienna is precisely to see concretely how we can reinforce international coordination in the fight against Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group. | “One of the topics of the meeting today in Vienna is precisely to see concretely how we can reinforce international coordination in the fight against Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group. |
| Mr. Lavrov said the attacks should prompt a more urgent effort to go after the Islamic State. | Mr. Lavrov said the attacks should prompt a more urgent effort to go after the Islamic State. |
| “We have to strongly reiterate that there should be no tolerance vis-à-vis terrorists,” Mr. Lavrov said after his meeting with Mr. Kerry. Referring to the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, he added, “There could be no justification for us not doing much more to defeat ISIL, Al Nusra and the like, and I hope that this meeting as well would allow us to move forward.” | “We have to strongly reiterate that there should be no tolerance vis-à-vis terrorists,” Mr. Lavrov said after his meeting with Mr. Kerry. Referring to the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, he added, “There could be no justification for us not doing much more to defeat ISIL, Al Nusra and the like, and I hope that this meeting as well would allow us to move forward.” |