Washington: US President Barack Obama warned yesterday that Russia’s military engagement in Syria in support of strongman Bashar Al Assad is a “recipe for disaster,” though Washington could still work with Moscow on reducing tensions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t distinguish between ISIL and a moderate Sunni opposition that wants to see Assad go,” Obama told reporters, referring to the self-proclaimed Islamic State group. “From their perspective, they’re all terrorists. And that’s a recipe for disaster.”
The West has raised concerns that Russian forces were also striking at rebel groups opposed to Assad, in a bid to bolster its ally. Obama accused Moscow of “propping up a regime that is rejected by an overwhelming majority of the Syrian population”.
He also said the United States would “continue to support” moderate rebels in Syria because they are groups that “can help pick up the pieces and stitch together a cohesive, coherent country” in the aftermath of Assad’s rule.
Obama signalled he was willing to engage with Putin, particularly if Moscow “works instead to bring about a political settlement” instead of doubling down on its military support to Assad.
“I said to Putin that I’d be prepared to work with him if he is willing to broker with his partners, Assad and Iran, a political transition,” Obama said. “We can bring the rest of the world community to a brokered solution, but that a military solution alone — an attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad and try to pacify the population — is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire.”
On the ground, at least 12 members of the Islamic State group have been killed in Russia’s first air strikes on the jihadist faction’s main Syrian bastion, a monitoring group said.
Russian air attacks also targeted the Army of Conquest, the most powerful Islamist coalition battling Syrian regime forces in the northwest. The defence ministry said it had carried out strikes on Raqa province on Thursday, as well as raids on the provinces of Aleppo in the north, Idlib in the northwest and Hama in central Syria.
The strikes are the first time Russia has targeted IS’s stronghold in Raqa province, the de facto Syrian capital of its self-styled “caliphate”. Russia’s Su-34 planes hit “an IS training camp near the village of Maadan Jadid” near Raqa city. Agencies
