WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia signaled disagreement over whether it was too soon to bring the Syrian parties into the talks, as the UN’s Syria envoy held a flurry of meetings to try to sustain momentum for renewed international diplomacy to end the Syrian war. The continued deep divisions on the way forward on Syria suggest the parties should aim to stop the Syria fighting first before trying to reach a political solution for Syria, which could take years, a veteran US diplomat urged.

If you try to get a political settlement first, “the fighting will go on for years,” veteran diplomat James Dobbins, who served as Barack Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told Al-Monitor.

“Everyone agrees that there is an urgency to have a common understanding on how to end this war … and end it politically,” UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Nov. 4, noting he had traveled to Damascus following the summit of 17 Syria contact group nations, including archrivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, in Vienna on Oct. 30.

“We look forward to concrete and constructive preparation of the next meeting of what will be the contact group on Syria,” de Mistura said, noting he will travel shortly to Washington.