MOSCOW, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The risk of hostility intensification is on the rise in Syria amid escalating tensions between Russia and the United States over the failure of a truce deal that had been expected to improve the situation in the war-raged country.
Earlier this month, Moscow and Washington announced they had brokered a landmark agreement on a nationwide cease-fire in Syria, which both sides hoped would lead to their countries' military cooperation to end more than five years of bloodshed there.
However, crossfire resumed in the first hours after the week-long truce deal expired on Sept. 19, with both parties trading accusations of failures to implement the deal.
Moscow blamed Washington for the U.S.-led coalition air strikes against Syrian government troops, saying the move violated their bilateral agreement, while Washington insisted Moscow be held accountable for the bombing of a UN humanitarian convoy in Syria, an accusation the Kremlin has denied.
"Russia and the United States have reached an impasse over implementing the cease-fire deal in Syria, due to its complexity and lack of trust between the participants," Fyodor Lukyanov, chief editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told Xinhua.
Spat between the two powers was growing on Wednesday, when the United States threatened to suspend cooperation with Russia if the Syrian forces backed by Moscow kept bombing the opposition.
"If the civil war in Syria continued, extremists could attack Russian interests, and perhaps even Russian cities," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.
"We cannot regard these statements as anything else but a call for action," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded Thursday at a briefing.
The Russian Defense Ministry saw Kirby's warning as a "confession by the U.S. side that the opposition allegedly conducting a civil war in Syria is an international terrorist group controlled by the U.S."
The United States, which had assumed the responsibility for separating the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists, has failed to honor its promise, Moscow argued.
The United States itself, Lukyanov believes, has little clue as to who represents moderate opposition in Syria.
"Settlements of complicated conflicts like the Syrian one called for deep and very detailed elaboration with strict definitions of responsibilities of participants, and a high degree of mutual trust," he said. "And the trust between Russia and the United States is not only low, but practically nonexistent."
On top of it, he noted, the U.S. side was evidently divided between the Department of State and President Barack Obama, who is willing to reach some progress, and the Pentagon, which had no intention to cooperate with its Russian colleagues.
One proof of this was the reluctance of Washington to publish the texts of the reached agreement with Moscow.
"As the Obama administration has been under sharp criticism for allegedly making concessions to Moscow, the unveiling of any agreement with Russia could lead to another wave of attacks from opponents," Lukyanov said.
Under the current circumstances, a new outburst of hostility is expected with Russia increasing its presence in Syria, outside support to the Syrian opposition rising, and the Syrian army attempting to intensify its operations, he added.
A change in the situation may occur either if the Syrian army scores "some great victories," or the parties exhaust military means and begin to seek new talks, he concluded.
