On the other hand, many hardline European Union governments will make the case that Putin’s involvement in Syria – which has seen cruise missiles fired at Syrian rebels from Russian ships in the Caspian Sea and a violation of Turkish air space during bombing raids – is no different from his interference in Ukraine because it reveals a disregard for global rules, the diplomat said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday urged the necessity of uniting anti-terrorism efforts as he expressed condolences to families of victims from the deadly terrorist attack in Ankara, capital of Turkey.
“On both sides, as far as I can tell, there is an understanding that today’s meeting can advance our cooperation”, Lavrov said.
The “progress” in talks on Saturday came as the conflict in Syria intensified.
Obama has blamed the program’s lack of success partly on the failure to find opposition forces who would agree to fight the Islamic State instead of the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been fighting a 4-year-old civil war.
Russia’s air campaign in Syria has angered rebels and their backers, while complicating efforts of the US-led coalition that is also targeting IS in the country.
Wormuth said that for now, the US would be in contact with those rebel leaders and start providing them with equipment packages.
A senior figure in the Revolutionary Guards, Brig-Gen Hamedani was killed in Aleppo province, where he was advising the Syrian military, news reports said.
“The coming battles are going to be ferocious, the Russians are using scorched earth policy and they are hitting the targets very accurately but this is a battle of destiny”, said Abu Hamed, the head of the military bureau of Jabhat Sham, an insurgent group that operates mainly in Hama province.
Moscow and Assad characterize all armed groups in Syria as terrorists, while the United States and its allies have focused their air war on IS militants.
Russian planes recently flew near a USA drone, officials say, and the US military, which has been bombarding IS sites in Syria since a year ago, has had to reroute a few flights to avoid any close calls.
Russian strikes have focused on areas in Hama province and neighboring Idlib where insurgents have advanced in recent months.
“The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the group formerly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)”, the U.S. official stressed.
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Heavy fighting was also taking place in the al-Ghab plain in Hama province – a natural barrier between areas controlled by Sunni Muslims and the Alawite sect to which Assad and many of his loyalists belong.
