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       Kerry Calls Syria Cease-fire 'Top Priority' Ahead of Geneva Talks

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Geneva Sunday for
   talks on the Syrian situation.

   Kerry would discuss ongoing efforts to reaffirm a cessation of
   hostilities throughout Syria with the foreign ministers of Jordan and
   Saudi Arabia, as well as U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura,
   according to a State Department statement Saturday.

   Kerry called the U.N. envoy to Syria and the Syrian negotiations
   coordinator in preparation for the trip.

   He made it clear that ending the violence in Aleppo and returning
   ultimately to a durable, nationwide cessation of hostilities is a "top
   priority," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

   'Kerry also expressed his concern about Assad forces continuing to
   escalate the conflict, Kirby said.

   "The secretary expressed his deep concern about the deteriorating
   situation in Aleppo, where the ... regime (of President Bashar
   al-Assad) continues to escalate the conflict by predominantly targeting
   innocent civilians and parties to the cessation of hostilities -- not
   Nusra, as the regime falsely claims," he said. "Such attacks are direct
   violations of the cessation and must stop immediately."

   About 30 airstrikes by Syrian government warplanes and helicopter
   gunships hit rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo Saturday,
   killing at least five people.

   Civilian deaths

   Nearly 250 civilians have died in shelling, rocket fire and air raids
   in the contested city since April 22, the Britain-based Syrian
   Observatory for Human Rights reported.

   Among those killed were at least 50 people in a hospital that was hit
   in an airstrike.

   The surge of violence comes as the International Committee of the Red
   Cross (ICRC) warned that the intensification of fighting could bring
   many people closer to a humanitarian disaster in Aleppo, Syria's
   largest city and former commercial center.

   Aleppo was left out of the temporary U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire
   that took effect Saturday. The cease-fire, set to last for 24 hours in
   Damascus and the Eastern Ghouta region, appeared to be holding.

   Truce plans

   State Department spokesman Mark Toner said similar truce plans for
   Latakia would test the commitment that all of the parties made to the
   initial cessation of hostilities.

   "This is a recommitment and it is a test for the Russians, for the
   regime, as well as for the opposition," Toner said.

   Rebels continued to hit government-controlled neighborhoods in the
   northern city of Aleppo with rocket and artillery fire. The Syrian
   government also kept up its bombing raids.

   More than 80 international and Syrian NGOs signed an urgent statement
   Friday demanding that U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President
   Vladimir Putin respond to appeals by the United Nations and try to stop
   the bloodshed.

   From Geneva, U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said this past
   week's violence in Syria showed a "monstrous disregard for civilians'
   lives by all parties to the conflict."

   Rebels demanding the removal of Assad and the government troops
   opposing them control separate parts of Aleppo, and portions of the
   surrounding province are in the hands of numerous other fighters,
   including members of al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror group.

   Fighting in the conflict, which has been going on more than five years,
   has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-calls-syria-cease-fire-top-priority-ahead-of-geneva-talks/3310351.html