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                      Kerry to Jordan for More Syria Talks

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the [1]World Economic
   Forum in Jordan Sunday where he is expected to continue his push for
   peace talks in Geneva next month to end the brutal Syrian conflict.
   The proposed multilateral talks would for the first time bring together
   representatives from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and
   members of the opposition coalition attempting to oust him from power.
   Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Sunday his government
   would "in principle" attend the proposed peace conference, calling it
   "a good opportunity to resolve the Syrian crisis."
   The United States and Russia are sponsoring the talks and Washington is
   pushing Syria's fractious opposition to settle their internal
   differences and unite before the conference.
   Senior opposition leaders say their coalition is likely to attend the
   peace talks, but they doubt the meeting will result in their key demand
   - an agreement for Assad to leave office.
   Kerry discussed the Syrian conflict with U.N. Secretary General Bank
   Ki-moon and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi while he was in Ethiopia
   for a meeting of the African Union.
   Ban briefed the secretary of state on his talks in Moscow with Russian
   President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
   President Morsi told Kerry the Egyptian government supports the joint
   U.S.-Russian initiative on Syria.
   From Jordan, Kerry travels to Paris Monday for a private dinner with
   Lavrov to discuss how best to bring together parties to the Syrian
   conflict and their supporters.
   Meanwhile, amateur video posted to the Internet showed a Syrian
   government air strike said to be filmed Sunday on the embattled
   rebel-held town of Qusair.
   The Britain-based [2]Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting
   in Qusair on Saturday killed at least 27 rebels and three civilians,
   including a child.
   Sources on both sides said Assad's forces, reinforced by Lebanese
   Hezbollah fighters, had unleashed heavy artillery and tank fire in an
   attempt to capture the Sunni Muslim town near Lebanon.
   The Syrian opposition said in Turkey on Saturday that thousands of
   fighters from Iran and Hezbollah were involved in the attack on Qusair
   and in battles in the capital, Damascus.
   Qusair is a key prize for Assad because of its strategic location
   between Damascus and the mainly Alawite Mediterranean coast.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-to-jordan-for-more-syria-talks/
   1668575.html

References

   1. http://www.weforum.org/
   2. http://syriahr.com/en/
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-to-jordan-for-more-syria-talks/1668575.html