Red Cross: Syria war likely to drag on

The Red Cross says it is planning humanitarian operations for an extended conflict in Syria in the absence of any sign of a political solution and military stalemate between rebels and government troops.
Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said the aid agency had urged major powers to try to stop all sides from committing violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes.
He saw no reason to expect the 27-month-old conflict to end anytime soon. “We don’t see where a political solution should easily come from. And that’s the reason why we would rather calculate for a longer conflict,” Maurer was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“Even if we would find a solution tomorrow, Syria would need badly much more humanitarian assistance than what is delivered today.”
International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who held talks with senior US and Russian officials in Geneva, has ruled out convening a peace conference before August at best.
“What we have seen over the past couple of weeks, what we observe as ICRC on the ground, is a stalemate between the two sides in Syria,” Maurer said in the Reuters report.