Kerry heads to Paris for another Syria meeting – Steinmeier

HAMBURG U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday left a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to head to Paris for further meetings on Syria on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.

Kerry told reporters after a second bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Hamburg that he was “hopeful” about reaching an accord with Moscow that would allow Syrian rebels to safely leave the besieged city of Aleppo.

France, a backer of the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is convening foreign ministers of like-minded countries in Paris on Saturday to seek a strategy in the wake of the Aleppo onslaught, although few diplomats expect anything concrete to be achieved.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)