Syria Peace Talks Languish in the Doldrums as Fighting Engulfs Aleppo

The latest round of talks in Geneva has failed to curb a dramatic spiral of violence and the tragedy in Syria is deepening rapidly.

A Syrian man walks past destroyed buildings on May 2, 2016, in Aleppo's Bab al-Hadid neighborhood which was targeted recently by regime airstrikes. Aleppo residents ventured out onto the streets, taking advantage of a lull in violence in the northern Syrian city as the United States pushed to salvage a ceasefire. Karam al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images

The latest round of talks in Geneva has failed to curb a dramatic spiral of violence and the tragedy in Syria is deepening rapidly. A hard-won and admittedly imperfect ceasefire has been broken, resulting in hundreds of deaths, particularly in Syria’s second city, Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the deaths of 3,116 people during April 2016. In recent days, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has sought to revive the process, yet a number of structural problems remain. The sheer number of actors involved in the talks, all arriving with competing visions of what a post-conflict Syria would look like, have caused serious problems.

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to the media at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on May 3, 2016. Secretary Kerry made remarks to mark World Press Freedom Day and discussed the current situation in Syria. Alex Wong/Getty Images