Russian Federation Should Choose Between Assad and Saving the Syrian State, Says Obama

Moscow launched its own air war in Syria, in coordination with President Bashar al-Assad, on September 30.

Last week’s deadly Paris attacks, in which 129 people were killed in a wave of shootings and suicide bombings across the French capital claimed by IS, have galvanized worldwide momentum for a diplomatic solution to Syria’s civil war.

“Terrorists steal the lives of innocent people and they also want to suspend ours”, Hollande told mayors from around the country in a televised address. “France will remain a country of freedom, of movement, of culture, an active, brave, dynamic country that doesn’t surrender to fear”.

In twin meetings next week in Washington and Moscow, Hollande plans to bring his case directly to President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, which left more than 130 French citizens dead and hundreds more wounded, the relationship between Russian Federation and the West has become more complicated.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the October 31 crash that killed 224, and Putin has vowed to hunt down those responsible and punish them.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly said that any ceasefire would not apply to Islamic State militants and al Qaeda, which would continue to be the target of Western strikes.

For Putin, the terror attacks in Paris marked a watershed moment in relations with the West. At a summit this week in Turkey, Putin huddled amicably with Obama and other Western leaders, whose changing attitudes reflected the political reality that the USA and its allies need Russia’s help to confront an extremist threat now striking at the heart of Europe.

Al-Assad, in power since 2000, shrugged off foreign calls for him to resign in an interview with Italian TV Rai Uno, aired on Thursday.

However, President Obama reiterated the US stand on Thursday, saying that Assad must go.

Despite holding diametrically opposed views on the fate of Assad, Russian Federation and France are set to begin coordinating military and security efforts in the anti-IS fight. “It might be grounds for later work on resolving political issues [in Syria]”, the Russian leader added.

He said: ‘The worse part is knowing that once you’re there you belong to no one. Iran is a close ally of Russian Federation.

Iran, however, says it supports general elections in Syria and for the time being only provides President Bashar Assad’s army with military consultation to ward off terrorists.

A Syrian security source said “the window to reach an agreement has not ended, but we have yet to reach the results stage”. That, Obama explained, is why “most of the Russian strikes at this point have not been directed at [ISIS], they’ve been directed at propping up the Assad regime”. He’s consulting with members of the coalition who have pledged to destroy the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.

“Each attack, whether the bombing of a hospital or the detention and torture of a doctor for providing health care, is a war crime”, said the report’s authors.

One Western diplomat said the Saudis “were dragged kicking and screaming to the Vienna talks”.

Russian Federation has acted quickly since then, doubling its airstrikes against terrorist groups in Syria on Tuesday.