Lavrov says Russian Federation in control of war against Islamic State

Before the meeting, Lavrov recalled that the Russian side intends to establish a coordination center in Baghdad, which is to coordinate actions in order to fight IS, which will be carried out by the Russian Federation, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

Al-Abadi says he will continue to work closely with the U.S.-led coalition that has been bombing the IS group in Syria and Iraq, saying Iraq needs “all the world’s intelligence efforts”. “This is not yet coordinated. I think we have concerns about how we’re going to go forward, but that’s precisely what we’re meeting on to talk about now”.

De-conflict is a diplomatic term for avoiding unintended incidents or accidents between different military forces operating in the same theater.

A senior State Department official said that Kerry and Lavrov discussed a possible political transition in Syria, but pointed out that their conversation was preparatory for Monday’s meeting between Putin and Obama.

“As of today it (Russian cooperation) has taken the form of weapons supplies to the Syrian government, personnel training and humanitarian aid to the Syrian people…we act based on the request from the Syrian government to provide military and technical assistance, which we deliver under entirely legal worldwide contracts” he added. “We have been providing assistance to legitimate government entities only”, Putin said.