Assad spoke at length about the presence of Islamic State terrorists in his country, blaming their existence on the West. He said the militant group grew and flourished in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion.
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Rome:Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country was not a breeding ground for the Islamic State group, blaming the creation of the jihadist organisation on the West. Putin, too, has issued conciliatory signals, softening his tone about the US and calling for the USA and Russian Federation to “stand together” against the extremist threat.
With this in mind, French President Francois Hollande will meet President Putin and US President Obama next week. “I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war n Syria while Assad remains in power”, Obama said.
Asked if his government agreed with Assad in blaming France, especially since his own country has been a recent victim of terror, with alleged Islamic State responsibility for the recent downing of a Russian airliner, Lavrov demurred.
Obama has said that Assad’s status remained a sticking point to such coordination with Russian Federation, and that the USA would continue to evaluate whether Russian Federation was serious about focusing its military strikes against Islamic State instead of those forces battling Assad.
Russia’s high-intensity air campaign and Putin’s influence over Assad gives the Russian Federation a key role in diplomatic efforts to negotiate a political solution.
Jihadists who trained in Syria for the Paris massacres and other attacks had done so due to “the support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qatari, and of course the Western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”, he insisted.
Russian fighter jets have bombed a series of towns to destroy ISIS. The country also has suffered increasing casualties from the war.
A Syrian security source said “the window to reach an agreement has not ended, but we have yet to reach the results stage”. Russian Federation is an American adversary but also a victim of terrorism.
Meanwhile French Prime Minister Manuel Valls now warned of the danger of an attack in France using “chemical or biological weapons”.
Lavrov expressed hope that other Western powers would follow suit and would be more open to cooperating with Moscow in Syria.
But there are hints that Russia’s support may be wobbling even as it ramps up airstrikes against his enemies: Moscow made clear earlier this month it is not crucial that he stay. “It is necessary to work out a joint action plan with them, both at sea and in the air”, Putin said. Andrei Kartapolov came one day after Putin ordered the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which is deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, to cooperate with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
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Information for this article was contributed by Vladimir Isachenkov, Josh Lederman, Kathleen Hennessey, Karl Ritter, Sylvie Corbet and staff members of The Associated Press and by Eddie Buckle of Bloomberg News.
