Obama has said the only way the USA would coordinate with Russian Federation against Islamic State is if there’s evidence Russia’s strikes in Syria are targeting jihadists rather than opponents of Assad.
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The murder of at least 129 in multiple attacks in the French capital has ensured the terrorist threat will dominate the annual gathering, which usually focuses on economic issues but has now become an opportunity for the worldwide community to forge a response to atrocities committed by the Islamic State group.
Blair’s “confession is the most important evidence”, Assad added.
Even if he were willing to consider such a scenario, Obama said, the Syrian people would never accept it.
Until now, Russia’s operation in Syria has mostly targeted more moderate rebel groups in Syria to shore up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who Putin has backed from the start of the four-and-a-half-year long war, until the revelation about the Russian airliner. The Russians have yet to answer that, said the opposition figure, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to damage relations with Russia.
The comments came as a fourth Coalition MP called for Australia to consider committing troops to Syria to help fight the Islamic State, also known as Daesh.
Meanwhile, both Italy and Britain’s foreign ministers both spoke supportively Thursday of Russia’s efforts in fighting IS, signaling a Western softening to Russia’s involvement. “I remain really skeptical that our interests converge here”. The country also has suffered increasing casualties from the war.
“The French explicitly said that they will be fighting the IS at home and overseas, and that is a sign that could be translated in more military pressure against IS soon”, Danura told Xinhua.
Russia, which views Syria as its closest Middle East ally, has always been at odds with the West over Assad’s future with Moscow saying only the Syrian people should decide if he steps down.
But just as France prepared to share its measure with council diplomats, Russian Federation floated a proposal of its own, resurrecting a draft resolution that went nowhere earlier this fall because it insisted on cooperating with the government of countries affected by terrorism – in Syria’s case, with Mr Assad.
For now, Iran believes anger over the Islamic State group will force the world to stick with Assad, said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for global Peace in Washington.
Obama is speaking during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“If we get a better understanding with Russian Federation about the process for bringing an end to the Syrian civil war”, he said, “that obviously opens up more opportunities for coordination with respect to ISIL”.
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A second security source told AFP that Russian Federation, a key backer of Assad, was playing a mediating role in the negotiations by reaching out to “supporters” of armed groups in Eastern Ghouta. “It’s because it is unimaginable that you can stop the civil war there when the overwhelming majority of people in Syria consider him to be a brutal, murderous dictator”, he said.
