WASHINGTON - Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Switzerland this weekend for urgent talks on Syria. His trip comes amid escalating violations of a fragile truce around the city of Aleppo.

The State Department says Kerry would leave Sunday for Geneva, where he would hold meetings the following day with the UN envoy for Syria as well as the foreign ministers of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Kerry will be reviewing efforts to reaffirm the truce nationwide and broaden the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged communities, the department said. He will also be looking at ways in which now suspended peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition can be restarted.

Kerry on Friday spoke at length with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the same topics.