US, Russia disagree over Syria strategy: Analyst
Press TV has interviewed John Feffer, director of Foreign Policy in Focus in Washington, to discuss Russia’s ongoing airstrikes against Daesh terrorists in Syria.
Following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How do you feel about that statement of President Putin that it has been impressive so far? Certainly many people did say that this does seem like a lot more organized campaign against Daesh than the likes of the US-led coalition for example?
Feffer: Well I think at the beginning of course military interventions of this sort always seem impressive especially according to the press statements of the governments that support them. I have no doubt that the hundreds of airstrikes that the Russian government has launched against a number of different targets including the Islamic State or Daesh have caused some damage, taken out fuel depots, ammunition, etc.
Of course it is necessary to point out that the Russian government is interested not just in taking out Daesh or the Islamic State, it is interested in taking out other opponents of the government of Bashar al-Assad and that has brought it into conflict with the United States, with Turkey, with several other actors on the ground. So it has become, shall we say, a much more complicated situation as the result of the Russian intervention.
Press TV: Why should it be this complicated because certainly Daesh poses a threat to all of the above? Russia as well has said a number of its own citizens have joined Daesh, the US certainly knows a certain amount of its citizens have joined Daesh, so why not work together to get rid of this?
Feffer: Well I think there definitely is common cause here. I think pretty much every government is very concerned about Daesh or the Islamic State. This is something that could serve as the basis of any kind of political negotiation to resolve the situation in Syria as well as Iraq and wherever the Islamic State happens to call itself home.
However, there are other problems associated with this of course and that is United States and Russia disagree about what the future of the government of Bashar al-Assad should be. They disagree to a certain extent about other actors on the ground, particularly the al-Nusra Front, Kurdish armies fighting in the region. So that I think could be subordinate to any political discussion but first we have to get the actors to the table and at the moment that is not happening.
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