After the talks, Mr Lavrov made clear there was “no agreement on the destiny of Assad”.
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Therefore, Russia’s decision to support the forces of Bashar al-Assad with its air force in the battle against the Islamic state is a result of Moscow’s conviction that the Western countries air raids on terrorist targets in Syria are so inefficient that cause serious doubts whether this is only a facade behind the actual hidden intention to bring down the regime in Damascus.
By comparison, the 13 months of strikes carried out by the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria have killed 3,649 people.
A New York Times October 12 article mapped Russian airstrikes as being centered around a region of Syria’s northwest listed by the newspaper as under “rebel” control. “It will have two primary effects”, Blinken said.
The meeting between the two men, the third since Sarkozy left the Elysée Palace in 2012, comes at a time of fraught relations between the Kremlin and current French President François Hollande over Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine and recent military intervention in Syria.
The MoD stressed that such blame is put upon Russian Federation not only by the media, but also officials and politicians from a number of Western states, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, US Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the UK’s Defense Secretary Michael Fallon and France’s Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian. Foreign Minister Al-Jubeir told me: “I wouldn’t call it a place at the negotiating table, it’s about being part of the conversation”. While Sarkozy has no official role in foreign policy, his visit testifies to rising divisions in European ruling circles over Washington’s aggressive policy aimed at Russian Federation and China.
“I am convinced that neither the United States nor Russian Federation of course want any kind of slide into a so-called proxy war”, he said (via the BBC).
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or ISIL, is known for the major human rights violations it has committed while taking over territory in Syria and Iraq.
“Kind of ironically, Assad was a protector of Christians in Syria”, Vila said.
For starters, Obama could pledge to work with all countries – allies and otherwise – that have an interest in resolving the Syrian crisis.
The Russian presence on the ground has since increased, while the Russian air force has begun providing air cover to the Assad forces.
Abu Yusuf al-Adnani, a military leader of the al-Jabha al-Shamiya opposition, called Russian Federation “an enemy of the Syrian people”.
“I would be very surprised if Russian Federation could not sustain such an effort despite its other difficulties until at least the end of the American electoral cycle in November of next year” – in other words, wait out the Obama administration and deal with the next president.
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Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, Chief of the General Staff’s Operations Directorate which plans military missions, describes in an interview in the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda that Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved construction of a “unified” base which would create the opportunity for the military to consolidate “sea, air and ground components”.
