President Barack Obama has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help de-escalate the fighting in both Syria and Ukraine. The White House have confirmed that due to the increase in shelling along the front line in eastern Ukraine, along with the Syrian cease-fire nearing complete collapse – the U.S. president made an urgent call to Putin in order to find a solution to the problems. ABC News reports: The Syrian opposition announced it was suspending its participation in United Nations-brokered talks in Geneva, while rebel groups inside Syria declared a major offensive against government forces in retaliation for continuing airstrikes. The announcements potentially herald an end to the partial truce that had dramatically reduced violence in Syria and threaten to definitively torpedo the Geneva talks, seen as the best hope of ending the five-year conflict. The opposition blamed the renewed violence on offensives by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom they’ve accused of pounding areas under rebel control and of launching an advance against the city of Aleppo. A representative for the main opposition negotiating group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which is backed by the U.S., said talks could not continue while government troops conducted major attacks [...]
