West blames Russia for 'pause' in Syria peace talks

Western countries have blamed Russian airstrikes in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime forces for a halt to United Nations-brokered Syria peace talks in Geneva.

The United States demanded Feb. 4 that Russia immediately halt its bombing campaign in Syria after a bitter breakdown in peace talks exposed the deep rift between world powers aiming to end the five-year conflict.

International donors met in London on the Syria crisis just hours after the peace talks in Geneva were suspended on Feb. 3 until Feb. 25, with U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura saying "more work" was needed.

American Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow to halt its bombing of the Syrian opposition in what he said was a "robust" phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, according to Agence France-Presse.

"We discussed, and we agreed, that we need to discuss how to implement the cease-fire," he said, adding that he and Lavrov would speak again later in the day or on Feb. 5.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Kerry and Lavrov had agreed to do everything possible to make the break in peace talks "as short as possible." 

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius accused Syria and Russia of "torpedoing the peace efforts" with an offensive.

On the ground, nearly 40,000 people have fled an offensive this week by al-Assad's regime north of the city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. 

Al-Assad's forces also entered two Shiite villages that were under siege by rebels, prompting what state news agency SANA called "mass celebrations" in the streets of Nubol and Zahraa, located in the northwestern Aleppo governorate.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki...