Pentagon to begin talks with Russian Federation on air operations in Syria

A Syrian refugee carries his child at a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, September 19, 2015. From the start, the military had trouble recruiting and vetting Syrians who were interested in fighting against the Islamic State, rather than against Assad.

The meeting also heard from the Iraqi leader, who sought more help against IS in his country, and learned from Obama that three more countries – Nigeria, Tunisia and Malaysia – were added to the coalition fighting the group.

“Sometime between the formation of this council and elections, the theory of this is that – whether it’s a day or a week or a month, I don’t know- Assad would sail into the sunset”, Al-Jubeir said.

Russia’s president blamed foreign intervention in North Africa and the Middle East for creating a terrorist-fueled “anarchy”.

Referring to air strikes by a US-led coalition on Islamic State targets in Syria, Rouhani said defeating the militants was “not feasible through air operations only”.

“It should be clear that al-Assad can not be a part of new government in Syria“. Obama and Putin laid out competing visions for Syria during their speeches to the opening meeting of the annual UN General Assembly on Monday. Because as long as Assad is there, you simply can’t make piece.

“Bashar has been qualified by the United Nations as a criminal against humanity”.

After Putin and US President Barack Obama met on Monday, both powers said they were committed to destroying Islamic State and they agreed their militaries would communicate to avoid any accidental clashes between forces in the area.

“But for them to go out and insert forces into Syria, which is the first time that the Russians have done so in decades, is a big step, and is an indication that their objective may be to prop up the Assad regime, more than it is to fight Daesh,” he said.

Assad’s future role remained the biggest sticking point and Kerry told MSNBC differences remained on what the outcome of such a transition would be.

“We’re just at the beginning of trying to understand what the Russians” intentions are in Syria, in Iraq, and to try to see if there are mutually beneficial ways forward here, ‘ a senior State Department official said.

“In Syria… defeating ISIL requires, I believe, a new leader”, Obama told the gathering, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. “This is going to be a complex process”.

Russian Federation has recently increased its military presence in Syria with deployments of troops and warplanes combined with new arms deliveries to forces battling the Islamic State group, which has carved out swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

“To quote Napoleon, engage and then we’ll see”, said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies and a member of the Defense Ministry’s Public Council.

“We are harnessing all of our tools – military, intelligence, economic, development and the strength of our communities” to combat the extremist group, Obama told a summit at the United Nations on countering the IS and violent extremism.

“It now appears that our administration is seriously debating a few type of an accommodation with the Russians in order to fight ISIS”, Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday.