US would be willing to share information on jihadists if Russia pressures Bashar al-Assad to stop bombing armed rebels
The US is trying closer cooperation with Russia in the fight against Islamic State and al-Qaidas Syrian branch in the hope that Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad, will stop attacking the mainstream rebels who are fighting to subvert him.
US officials said the plan under discussion would also require western and Arab-backed opposition forces-out to distance themselves from Jabhat al-Nusra, are connected to al-Qaida, to avoid being hit in airstrikes. Both Jabhat al-Nusra and Isis are proscribed by the UN and sees as legitimate targets by Washington and Moscow.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights, meanwhile, reported on Friday that 6,567 civilians had been killed in the first half of 2016 1,271 of them in June alone. Unofficial calculates used by the UN say 400,000 people have died since the Syrian uprising began in 2011. Millions ought to have induced homeless.
News of the latest US initiative, reported by the Washington Post, came as the UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, admitted that conditions were still not ripe to reconvene the suspended Geneva peace talks before a 1 August deadline for the start of a political transition in Damascus.
The paper said the Obama administration had submitted a proposal that includes enhanced information sharing, though no decisions had been induced. Russia is also being asked to pressure Assad to halt the bombing of armed rebel groups that are supported by the US.
The US defence secretary, Ashton Carter, said that if Russia would do the right thing in Syria thats an important condition as in all cases with Russia, were willing to work with them.
The idea is likely to be greeted with scepticism by critics of US policy on Syria, which is widely ensure to be overly dependent on Russian goodwill and cooperation. Overall, however, there seems to be increasing convergence between the two big powers despite their ostensible disagreement about Assads fate.
The formal US position is that the president should step down, but Russia has continued to back him and to insist that his future is a matter for the Syrian people alone. The anti-Assad opposition fears a deal between Washington and Moscow on an enforced solution that will leave the president in place.
Assad himself said in an interview that Syrian cooperation with Russia and Iran his main regional ally was intended to restore stability. The chaos in Syria is going to provoke the domino effect in our region, he told the Australian broadcaster SBS. Its going to affect the neighbouring countries, its going to affect Iran, its going to affect Russia, its going to affect Europe.
De Mistura told al-Hadath Tv on Thursday that the key countries involved needed to work with a feeling of importance to get the Geneva talks started again. Despite not being able to set a date for a resumption, he hinted at grounds for optimism. I want to believe, and I suppose I have reasons to believe, that both Russia and the US who are crucial because they are the co-chairs have both an urgent vested interest in avoiding that this conflict starts again and becomes open objective, he said.
He also said he had worked out how to untangle what he called the Assad knot the central problem of irreconcilable demands about his political future but he did not elaborate.
Restoring the always patchy cessation of aggressions agreement that was brokered by the US and Russia last February appears to be a pre-condition for any progress towards a political solution to the war.
De Mistura said Brexit was another casualty of the Syrian crisis a view held by many. The consequences of this conflict are affecting everyone, even producing a sense of concern in European countries to the phase of reaching that type of consequence, he said.
On Friday Britain appealed for wider humanitarian access to besieged the sectors of Syria , noting recent progress but demanding deliveries to eight areas that had not yet been reached by the UN. Until we watch a change in regime behaviour, thousands will continue to starve, said Gareth Bayley, the UK special envoy for Syria.
On Thursday Britain announces that it would increase support to Iraqi forces-out opposing Isis by deploying 50 additional trainers on improvised explosive devices, infantry skills and combat first aid. The extra personnel will be working with US and Danish forces, providing training to the Iraqi army, perimeter guards and federal police. Britain will also offer 80 army technologists to build infrastructure to support this deployment at an airbase in western Iraq.
Read more: www.theguardian.com
