US ‘comes late’ to Syria peace effort – Kerry

"This is a very difficult process, which we come to late," Mr. Kerry said at a press conference in a comment on the joint US-Russia effort to end the Syrian conflict.

"We are trying to prevent the sectarian violence from dragging Syria down into a complete and total implosion where it has broken up into enclaves and the institutions of the state have been destroyed,” he went on to say.

On Friday, John Kerry spoke with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The ministers discussed the planned peace conference on Syria, known as Geneva II, which seeks to implement an agreement on the end of bloodshed to set up a transitional government by "mutual consent.”

"Now when that ripens, when that becomes a reality, is going to be decided by events on the ground and the participants themselves,” Kerry added.” The US can push and cajole... but in the end, the people on the ground, are going to have to decide that that's something they are prepared to engage in.”