Obama, Castro To Meet At United Nations Next Week

The Obama administration spent much of the past four years calling for the Syrian president’s ouster on grounds that he fueled the rise of extremists by authorizing Syria’s military to conduct genocide-style attacks on civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman about finding a solution to the Syria crisis on Saturday, just two days before he is due to address the United Nations on the issue, the Kremlin said.

Russia, which has helped to arm Assad, moved a few troops into Syria in recent weeks and has indicated it is prepared to work militarily with the west to fight Islamic State.

The Obama administration is concerned that Russia’s real intention is to shore up Assad and strike at other factions seeking to topple him under the pretext of fighting worldwide terrorism.

In this photo released on April 25, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, young boys known as the “lion cubs” hold rifles and Islamic State group flags as they exercise at a training camp in Tal Afar, near Mosul, northern Iraq.

In another development, Iraq’s military said Sunday it will begin sharing “security and intelligence” information with Syria, Russian Federation and Iran to help combat the Islamic State group.

“The critical thing is that all of the efforts need to be coordinated”, said Kerry, as he headed into talks with Lavrov.

Putin said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad deserved global support as he was fighting terrorist organisations.

Syria has been torn apart by the civil war, which started as an uprising against Mr Assad’s government and involves rebel groups as well as Islamic State.

But Putin said this was not the case – at least, not immediately.

But with Europe increasingly overwhelmed by the upsurge of refugees fleeing the conflict and IS – also known as Isil – in control of large swathes of the country, he joined Western allies such as the U.S. and France in signalling a willingness to discuss whether Assad could play a transitional role.

Mr Cameron plans to use his meetings with world leaders in New York to highlight the £1.1 billion ($US1.7 billion) Britain has spent on assistance to displaced Syrians in the Middle East and to urge others to follow his lead.

White house spokesperson Josh Earnest spoke to media and told that the Russian president had requested the meeting which President Obama had consented to in order to see what can be done on both sides regarding the differences that seem to have arisen.

The Russian president will be outlining his plan for Syria, which would include Mr Al Assad’s army in a larger anti-ISIL coalition – a proposal the USA rejects.