Russia and US 'planning military coordination against Isis in Syria'

The two powers are working to liberate the Islamic State stronghold
of Raqqa, says Russian deputy foreign minister

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Wednesday 30 March 2016 16.29 BST

Signs of wider military cooperation in Syria have emerged as Russia revealed that discussions have taken place about coordinating the liberation of the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in conjunction with the US.

Russia and the US have slowly been working more closely in the wake of the partial Russian withdrawal of its aircraft from Syria, including an agreement last week to press President Bashar al-Assad to hold talks with the opposition about a political transition once peace talks recommence after 9 April in Geneva.

Russia and the US are discussing “concrete” military coordination to liberate the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, Interfax news agency cited the Russian deputy foreign minister, Oleg Syromolotov, as saying on Wednesday. The revelation follows visits to Moscow this month by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and CIA head John Brennan.

In a separate development Assad told the Russian news agency RIA he could foresee agreement on a political settlement for Syria within weeks, a timetable that runs ahead of anything that has been discussed in Geneva. Giving his first response to the first round of Geneva peace talks, Assad told RIA that it was “logical for there to be independent forces, opposition forces and forces loyal to the government represented there”.

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