At the G-20 summit on Sunday in Hangzhou, China, Secretary of State John Kerry , second from right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, second from left, tried to negotiate a Syrian cease-fire. (Yuri Kochetkov/EPA)HANGZHOU, China — U.S. and Russian officials spent Sunday trying to reach a deal for a cease-fire in Syria, which would allow food and aid to reach war-ravaged parts of the country. “We approach this with skepticism,” Obama said, given the failures of previous cease-fires. At a press conference Sunday, Obama said “grave differences” remain on both sides over the how to handle Syria and end the violence. In previous negotiations between Russia and the U.S., the terms under discussion involved military and intelligence cooperation with Russia to fight al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Syria in return for the cease-fire.

Source: Washington Post September 04, 2016 09:18 UTC