Syria's foreign minister signaled on Saturday a ceasefire would be difficult or impossible before the borders with Turkey and Jordan were sealed. Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem, speaking in a televised news conference, said he was citing his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who had said "a ceasefire would not be possible before the borders with Turkey and Jordan are controlled, and before agreement on lists of terrorist organizations, it is difficult to achieve that." His comments capped a week that saw the collapse of UN-led efforts to launch indirect peace talks between the Syrian government and an opposition delegation in Geneva. The talks broke down in large part because of Syrian government offensives, including on the outskirts of Aleppo, once the country's largest city. The offensive, aimed at encircling rebel strongholds in Aleppo, was backed by intense Russian airstrikes and sent thousands of area residents fleeing toward a closed Turkish border. Opposition representatives have said they cannot be expected to negotiate in Geneva at a time when the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, are escalating attacks on rebel strongholds. — Agencies
