Syria has topped the agenda during a second day of talks among the Group of Eight industrialized nations in London.
Attendees at the meeting of the world’s wealthiest countries include US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
According to Voice of America, G8 foreign ministers met over dinner Wednesday, talking with Syrian opposition officials during separate side sessions. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the talks with the Syrian opposition «very productive.»
He and Kerry are to attend a Friends of Syria meeting in Istanbul later this month to further discuss the issue.
However, G8 countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US — disagree over solutions. Britain and France have advocated amending or lifting an EU arms embargo on Syria to support the rebels. Russia and Germany, on the other hand, would oppose the move for fear it would allow weapons to fall into the hands of Islamist militants and fuel a regional conflict.
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Press TV cited Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as warning that neither side could win in Syria, and questioning the motives of countries interfering in the conflict.
«We have long been trying to calm the situation [in Syria]. But as soon as the slightest glimmer of hope appears… someone immediately does everything possible to frustrate the hope. There will be no winner. I do not know for whom it is advantageous. It may be advantageous for many. For example, for those who would like to see fewer big and influential countries in the region.»
Human Rights Watch released a report Wednesday that said the Syrian regime has killed at least 4,300 people since last summer in indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate air strikes, which the group said amount to war crimes.
In a press release, Ole Solvang, a researcher with the New York-based human rights group, said: “These illegal air strikes killed and injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear, and displacement.”
Syrian fighter jets have deliberately targeted bakeries, bread lines and hospitals in the country’s northern region, the report said, especially in the border with Turkey which had recently fallen under the control of rebels.
The conflict in Syria is now in its third year, at an estimated human cost of at least 70,000 lives.
This article originally was published in Global Post.