Despite Kerry’s describing two opposition groups as subgroups of DAESH and al-Qaida, the USA persistently separates the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its armed People’s Protection Units (YPG).
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Russian Federation would be getting what it has wanted since intervening in Syria in late September: An global alliance of sorts.
Kirby said talk of the August 1 target date “underscores the importance of the secretary’s trip to Moscow and the conversations that he intends to have there”.
The camps, the officials said, are in a no-man’s-land on Syria’s border with Jordan devoid of any Syrian troops or Islamic State fighters, and the Russians attacked it deliberately, the officials said. Assad has reasserted control over more areas of the country he had once lost.
But many in the USA military are wary of working closely with the Russians, saying they do not trust Moscow to deliver on such promises. The U.S. doesn’t want to be seen as entrenching Assad, whom American officials have referred to as a “butcher” and “mass murderer”.
And a dissent cable signed by 51 State Department officials last month showed a sizeable part of America’s diplomatic establishment believing a US military response against Assad’s forces was necessary, given Moscow’s increased leverage as a result of its intervention.
Both the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front are defined as terrorist groups by the UN Security Council, and they are not party to the much-breached ceasefire in place between Assad’s forces and more moderate rebel groups.
Previously, Kerry has suggested that if there is no breakthrough by the target date then Washington might resort to an undefined “Plan B” to deal with Assad.
A cessation of hostilities was reached in February.
The new contribution will bring total USA humanitarian aid for Syria to $5.6 billion since the start of the crisis in 2012.
While some US officials downplay the military significance of what is now being offered to Russian Federation, the symbolic effect is clear.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Shell had been on a “stop list” for a long time, adding that he was “one of the organizers of lying anti-Russian propaganda, financed from the American budget, that is implementing the political decisions taken at the very top of the U.S”. The arrangement also could give Moscow greater cover to expand operations against forces the US considers moderate.
In an interview with NBC News, Assad was asked to comment on a lawsuit filed by Colvin’s relatives in US federal court claiming that Syrian government officials targeted and killed Colvin to silence her reporting on Syria and the besieged central city of Homs.
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