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Kerry in Abu Dhabi for Mideast talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Abu Dhabi for talks on Syria and the Middle East on the sixth day of his latest diplomatic tour.

US Secretary of State John Kerry (R)
US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) has landed in Abu Dhabi for talks on Syria and the Middle East. (AAP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry has landed in Abu Dhabi for talks on Syria and the Middle East hours after criticising Russia for "enabling" the Assad regime.

Arriving from Jakarta on the sixth day of his latest diplomatic tour on Monday, Kerry began a meeting with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.

"They will discuss important regional issues of mutual concern including the ongoing situation in Syria, specifically the humanitarian crisis and the Syrian regime's unwillingness to engage constructively in the Geneva talks," a senior State Department official said.

Earlier after meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Kerry lashed out at Russia for supplying arms to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite committing to trying to find a political solution to end the three-year war.

The Syrian regime "stonewalled" the Geneva peace talks, which ended in failure at the weekend, and continued to "destroy their own country," Kerry told reporters during a visit to the Indonesian capital.

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"And I regret to say they're doing so with increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia," he said.

"Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be distributing so much more weapons and so much more aid that they're in fact enabling Assad to double-down, which is creating an enormous problem."

The United States has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in trying to oust Assad and bring in a transitional government to end the war which erupted in 2011.

Kerry also planned to brief the leaders of the United Arab Emirates on talks with Iran, which are to resume on Tuesday in Vienna with the aim of hammering out a comprehensive deal to rein in Tehran's controversial nuclear program.


2 min read

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Updated

Source: AAP



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