Syria ceasefire talks to restart in Vienna despite unreconciled differences

US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will co-chair a meeting of the International Syria Support Group on Tuesday in an attempt appease difference regarding an agreement reached in February on a cessation of hostilities and expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged areas.

The International Syria Support Group, made up of 17 members including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, together with the UK, France, the EU and the Arab League, are seeking the overthrow of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his most important regional ally, Iran.

Kerry, who was involved in talks on Libya on Monday, spent the weekend in Jeddah in an effort to persuade the Saudis to ensure that the anti-Assad rebels they support follow the latest diplomatic effort, despite them walking out of the last round of Geneva talks.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy overseeing the indirect negotiations, will also be in the Austrian capital seeking support for a new round to keep the diplomatic route open, despite the apparently unbridgeable gaps between the Syrian parties.

Yet, Arab and western officials involved said they do not expect significant achievements from the talks.

“We are dealing with tactical steps, but there is nothing beyond them,” one senior Gulf diplomat told the press.

Syrian rebels insist that Assad must go. The Damascus government has dismissed talk of a “political transition” and refers only to the creation of a national unity government that could include opposition elements alongside the current regime, though the president dismisses most of his opponents as “terrorists”.

Turkey and Qatar, key supporters of rebel groups, are resisting efforts by the Russians to include Kurds and regime-friendly opposition elements in the Geneva talks. But other Arab countries are alarmed at the strength of the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, and the Saudi-backed Jaysh al-Fateh.

Riyad Hijab, the head of the rebel higher negotiations committee, has insisted that there will be no return to Geneva unless Syrian civilians are protected from regime airstrikes, sieges are broken and thousands of prisoners are released.

“Kerry has been making noises about consequences for violations of the ceasefire, but I don’t think they have much to offer, or anything that will change things in a significant way,” one opposition adviser said.

Earlier this month, a surge in bloodshed in Aleppo wrecked the 10-week-old partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow that had allowed the UN-brokered talks to carry on.