Powers in fresh Syria peace push

The US and Russia conducted last-minute negotiations yesterday over a fresh bid for a Syrian peace deal ahead of an expected high-level meeting in Geneva.

Foreign ministers from the two powers, which support opposite sides in the five-year conflict, were to hold a "personal meeting" in the Swiss city to push for a peace agreement, according to the Russian side.

The talks schedule came after US President Barack Obama held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China but failed to bridge their differences.

And US Defense Secretary Ash Carter yesterday told BBC radio there was "quite a long way to go" before a final deal could be struck.

Both sides have agreed that a deal would involve a durable ceasefire, humanitarian access to conflict-wracked areas and a resumption of peace talks.

As diplomatic efforts intensified, fighting in the complex war continued to claim lives.

Pro-regime forces also overran a strategically important district on the southern outskirts of Aleppo yesterday, rolling back nearly every gain from a major month-long rebel offensive there, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In London on Wednesday, the under-fire Syria opposition fleshed out a proposal for a transition to democracy without Assad after a six-month negotiating phase with the regime.

A group of 292 Syrians went back to the Syrian town of Jarablus from Turkey on Wednesday, marking the first formal return of civilians since Ankara launched a military incursion two weeks ago to try to secure the border region, a Turkish official said.

Meanwhile, a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US spy plane over the Black Sea on Wednesday, coming within just 10 feet of the American aircraft, a US defense official said.

Moscow, however, said the intercept was conducted "in strict accordance with international rules" because the Americans were trying to snoop on Russian army exercises.

The official said US Navy aircraft and ships routinely interact with Russian craft in the area, and noted that most encounters were safely conducted.

The Syrian war, which began as a pro-democracy revolt in 2011 but morphed into a multi-front conflict after the regime unleashed a crackdown, has killed more than 290,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes.