 "Bashar al-Assad (Photo: Wikipedia)")
The US is not coordinating its military operations in Syria with Russia, the White House said today amid reports that America is offering Russia some sort of military deal to go after the Islamic State and Al Qaida in the war-torn country.
"The United States is not conducting or coordinating military operations with Russia. I know there are some speculation that an agreement may be reached to do so. But it's not clear that will happen," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
"The case that we have made for more than a year now, or at least a year now, is that Russia should use the influence they have with the Assad regime to expedite a political solution to the situation inside of Syria," he said adding that the political solution involves a transition moving Assad out a power in Syria.
"That's something that will only happen once we have been able to bring some stability to the rampant violence on the ground," he said noting that earlier this year, there was some progress made in getting many parties to agree to a cessation of hostilities.
"And at the beginning of the implementation of that deal, it exceeded our expectations in terms of the security situation on the ground. That was a positive development.
"Since that time we have seen the security situation stability erode and that has dealt a setback to efforts to reach up political agreement," he said.
Earnest said the US would welcome a military contribution from Russia, as long as they were focused on ISIL and Al Qaeda's presence in Syria.
"Unfortunately, we've sent seen them devote too much of their attention to using their military might to prop up the Assad regime," he observed.
