Russia, the closest ally of Syria, is the key to talking down its aggressive campaign against Syrian rebels. The only one who could urge Russia to do so would be the United States.
Currently, US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Geneva, attempting to develop another ceasefire that would include the Syrian capital of Aleppo, currently suffering losses from a Syrian Regime Air Strike.
The assault had decimated an MSF hospital, killing 50 patients including children and two MSF doctors, one of which was a paediatrician.
Analysts believe that Washington and Moscow hold the key to ending the Syrian conflict. The US is stil committed to pushing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad away from his position, but Russia intends to keep the President in his post, disappointed with earlier campaigns initiated by the United States.
According to FT analyst Gideon Rachman:
“Indeed, the US now thinks it entirely possible that the Syrian regime, backed by Russian firepower, will move to ret ake both Raqqa and Deir-al-Zour, before the end of the year. On one level, this would be a welcome development for Washington. But it would also risk looking like a humiliation for the Obama administration, which, having assembled a 62-nation “global coalition” to defeat Isis, would have to stand by and see the Assad regime and the Russians do the job for them.
“There are two ways that the Americans might handle such a situation. The first would be to concentrate US efforts on fighting Isis in Iraq, helping the government in Baghdad to retake Mosul, the largest city held by the jihadis. The second, more controversial, idea would be to lend active support to the Syrian regime and the Russians in the fight to retake Raqqa.”
