Russia, Iran set stage for Geneva II; Turkey’s slow turnaround on Syria - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Ahmad Jarba, leader of Syria's opposition National Coalition (L-R), French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attend a news conference at the French foreign ministry during a "Friends of Syria" meeting ahead of Geneva II peace talks, in Paris, January 12, 2014. The "Friends of Syria", an alliance of mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries who oppose Syrian President Bashar al-As

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Syrian National Coalition Chief Ahmad al-Jarba (L) listens to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the start of their meeting at the U.S. Ambassador residence in Paris January 13, 2014. Syria's government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old civil war, Kerry said on Monday. REUTERS/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX17CPS

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A man stands near a burning motorbike at the site of a car bomb attack at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey, in Idlib January 20, 2014. Two car bombs hit a rebel-held border post in the northwest Syrian province of Idlib on Monday, opposition activists and fighters said, killing at least 10 people and closing the frontier. The Bab al-Hawa crossing is held by a rebel alliance called the Islamic Front, which have been fighting with the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levan

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US Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns listens during a press conference at the US Department of the Treasury July 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. Officials from the United States and China are meeting to discus the two world powers' relationships during the 5th United States and China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

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