RUSSIA and the United States held talks on the Syrian civil war in Vienna yesterday.

The landmark meeting, announced earlier this week, was delayed while the US thrashed out a joint position with its two main regional allies Saudia Arabia and Turkey.

US Secretary of State John Kerry held all-day meetings with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu at a luxury hotel.

But while the three foreign ministers met, their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov outflanked them by splitting off another regional ally.

Mr Lavrov announced an agreement with Syria’s southern neighbour Jordan, which has agreed to set up a co-ordinating centre for military activities in its capital Amman.

The deal was struck with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh at a meeting in the Austrian capital.

Later in the day, Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov had a meeting, but agreement between the two seemed unlikely as Mr Kerry appeared to be clinging to the rapidly fading prospect of US-sponsored regime change to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking in Berlin on Thursday, he said all the countries with an interest in Syria, including Iran and Russia, agreed that a unified, secular and pluralistic Syria governed with the consent of its people was desirable.

But Mr Kerry then reverted to dogma, declaring: “One thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that, and it’s a person called Assad — Bashar al-Assad.”

In Syria, a delegation of Russian MPs, charity directors and church leaders arrived yesterday to meet Mr Assad.

Delegation leader and Communist Party MP Sergei Gavrilov said the positions of Russia and Syria are identical when it comes to fighting terrorism.

He said the visit was aimed at increasing humanitarian aid to Syria, discussing Russian participation in the reconstruction process and bolstering the Syrian economy.

Meanwhile, Russian jets bombed a bridge over the River Euphrates near the city of Deir ez-Zor, cutting a major supply line to Islamic State (Isis) forces besieging the city.

In Moscow, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed: “Russia is ready for contacts with all those who are not terrorists.”

But he added: “Neither our American nor European colleagues are helping us in identifying moderate forces to work with.”