Kerry Says Russian Federation Proposed US-Russia Military Talks on Syria

It comes amid increased Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has faced several setbacks in recent weeks, including the loss of the government airbase in Idlib to Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front.

President Bashar Assad of Syria called on insurgents fighting his government to join with his forces and do battle against the Islamic State group.

Several Western countries which blame Assad heavily for the political unrest in Syria have been highly critical of Russia’s support for him.

In his first public comments on the mass migration Assad said Europe could expect more refugees. “He will leave sooner or later, because [he is powerless]…”

Meanwhile, a Syrian military source told Reuters yesterday that Syrian military has recently started using new types of air and ground weapons supplied by Russia, underlining growing Russian support to Damascus that is alarming the United States.

“If you (Western powers) are anxious about them, stop supporting terrorists”, the embattled leader said in an interview with Russian media on Wednesday.

Similarly, if Russia moves in fighter jets, the Pentagon would need to discuss in detail with the Russians how to manage potential conflict in the airspace.

In the interview, he did not mention Russia’s buildup in Syria but called Moscow an “impartial” player in the conflict.

Even if Russians operated the missiles and kept them out of the hands of the Syrian army, the arrival of such an advanced anti-aircraft system could unsettle Israel, which in the past has bombed sophisticated arms it suspected were being handed to Assad’s Lebanese guerrilla allies, Hezbollah.

He said Assad was ready to conduct political transformations and engage a “healthy part of the opposition”, but added that “pooling forces in the fight against terror takes the priority now”. “We’re fighting, if it’s possible to say, a common enemy, striking the same targets in the same places without any coordination”, Assad said.

Kerry will travel to London later this week for talks to include the situation in Syria with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. Russian Federation has been sending about two military cargo flights a day to an air base at Latakia, an Assad stronghold, US officials say.

“It’s clear that without an active participation of the Syrian authorities and the military, it would be impossible to expel the terrorists from that country and the region as a whole, and to protect the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Syrian people from destruction”, Putin said.

He reiterated that his stay in power is a matter decided by the people of Syria in elections and “doesn’t go as a result of an American decision, a Security Council decision, the Geneva conference or a Geneva statement”.