WASHINGTON — Warning a UN-backed Syria peace process was nearing the “end stage” before collapse, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow on July 14 to see if they could reach agreement on a US proposal to deepen US-Russian coordination to target al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, ground the Syrian air force, expand the Syria cease-fire nationwide and make way for resumed Syria political transition talks.

“We are here to test again, in what is pretty close to the end stage, of whether this is going to work,” a senior State Department official, speaking not for attribution, told journalists flying in with Kerry to Moscow on July 14.

A partial Syria cease-fire negotiated by the United States and Russia in February broke down after about six weeks because of both flagrant regime violations as well as attacks by al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, the senior State Department official said.

“While not as prominent … in the breakdown of the cessation as the actions of the regime, … [Jabhat al-Nusra forces have] conducted offensives and they've led opposition groups into those offensives and that's led to fighting back and forth,” the senior State Department official said.