The US said on Monday it was suspending negotiations with Russia over a ceasefire agreement for Syria, a final recognition that the peace plan announced three weeks ago has collapsed.

The state department said Russia was either “unwilling or unable” to get the Syrian government to adhere to the deal and had instead decided to intensify military action against the foreign-backed opposition militants.

“Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

A State Department official said US Secretary of State John Kerry is “laser-focused” on finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict through multilateral channels.

“This is not a decision that was taken lightly,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, announcing an end to plans to set up a joint US-Russian military cell to target Takfiri insurgents.

But the Russian and US militaries will keep a communications channel set up to ensure their forces do not get in each other’s way during “counterterrorism operations in Syria,” Kirby said.

At the United Nations, Russia dismissed a French-drafted UN resolution aimed at imposing a ceasefire in Aleppo as having “no chance of working,” insisting the priority should be fighting Takfiris in Syria.

“I’m not even sure many other council members would like to see a resolution on cessation of hostilities which has no chance of working,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

“If the only effect of that resolution is that the secretary general will start thinking of some monitoring mechanism which is not going to work in the first place, then there is not much sense in having that resolution.”

Source: Agencies