LA Times: The United States and Russia can not agree on combating LIH

Despite the shared goal of saving the Middle East from the Islamic State, Russia and the United States cannot agree on many issues that prevent them from joining forces against the extremists.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry met twice in the last three days in Qatar and Malaysia and tried in vain to convince each other that they had to make concessions on controversial issues. This is reported today by the American edition of the Los Angeles Times, recalling that Moscow and Washington have differences of opinion on the responsibility for the war in Ukraine and the need for the resignation of President Bashar Assad to end the four-year civil war in Syria.

Over the past weeks, Russia appears to be trying to take the lead in peace talks on Syria. And President Vladimir Putin in June, during a meeting with the prince of Saudi Arabia, proposed creating a joint “anti-terrorist front” that would unite the efforts of countries that are waging a separate fight against the Islamic State.

Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the leader of the National Coalition of Syrian opposition and revolutionary forces, Bard Jamus, was invited to Moscow for talks. And supposedly he agreed to visit the Russian capital. The Syrian opposition’s readiness to speak with Moscow is likely due to rumors that Putin is now more inclined to overthrow the Assad regime.

At the same time, Minister Lavrov, after a meeting with the US Secretary of State, assured that the Kremlin has not changed its position regarding support for the regime of the Syrian president. He also accused the United States of illegally expanding its involvement in the war in Syria, since the American air force is now not only striking the positions of the Islamic State, but also providing air support to opposition forces in the war against Assad’s army.

In Kuala Lumpur, Lavrov also complained that Russia and the United States, due, of course, to the American side, are failing to create a common front against terrorists. Because Washington is allegedly trying to “impose its political will on sovereign states.”

According to Lavrov, Washington and the Kremlin agree that it is necessary to confront the Islamic State, but they cannot agree on how to do this. On Monday, it became known that US President Barack Obama has authorized the use of US aircraft to protect Syrian rebels from attack by government forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime or other armed groups.

Large areas of the country are no longer under the control of the authorities, and in the recent ranking Syria was recognized as the most dangerous country in the world. On July 24, Syria’s main opposition forces agreed to facilitate the resignation of Bashar al-Assad.

Political forces said that peace “can be achieved through a political process that will be carried out by the Syrians themselves under the auspices of the UN.” In addition, Newsweek reported that the United States accuses Assad of supporting the Islamic State. In particular, American diplomats reported that military loyal to President Bashar al-Assad carried out an airstrike on forces fighting against Islamists near the city of Aleppo.