PHOTO: President Obama suggests coordination with Russia over airstrikes in Syria


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The Obama Administration has proposed military cooperation in Syria with Russia, including airstrikes on the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra, if Moscow gets the Assad regime to stop bombing US-supported rebel factions.

An Administration official said the US sent the proposed agreement to the Russian Government on Monday after weeks of negotiations and internal deliberations. The proposal was personally approved by President Obama and strongly supported by Secretary of State John Kerry. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter opposed the plan, but had to accept the President’s decision.

Russia’s propaganda line for months has been that the US has undermined any chance for a political resolution by refusing to share coordinates for bombing and by not ensuring the “separation” of rebels from Nusra. The jihadists were excluded from a now-dormant February 27 cessation of hostilities agreement, brokered by the US and Russia.

While rebel factions and Nusra are politically distinct — and often at odds with one another — they cooperate on the battlefield. Nusra is part of the Jaish al-Fatah bloc which is the leading force in northwest Syria.

Russia began intensive bombing last September to prop up the Assad regime and Syrian military. The large majority of the attacks have been on opposition-held territory, including civilian sites as well as rebel positions, rather than on the nominal target of the Islamic State.

Under the US proposal, Washington would not give Russia the exact locations of rebel factions, but would specify zones that would be safe from Russian and regime airstrikes.

Critics of the plan say that there is little chance Moscow will get the regime to halt bombing or to pursue a political settlement. An administration official complained that the plan contains no consequences for the Russians or the Assad regime if they do not uphold their part of the deal.

“One big flaw is that it’s clear that the Russians have no intent to put heavy pressure on Assad,” said the former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. “And in those instances when the Russians have put pressure on, they’ve gotten minimal results from the Syrians.”

Ford noted that there is not enough reliable intelligence to distinguish Jabhat al-Nusra positions from those of nearby rebels, and that escalated bombing of Jabhat al-Nusra is likely to cause collateral damage and civilian deaths, bolstering the group’s local support.

US Military Pressure on Assad Ruled Out

Obama’s pursuit of the plan effectively rules out the alternative of stepped-up US military pressure on Assad to reach a political settlement.

More than 50 State Department staff had proposed in a “dissent channel cable”, leaked to the media earlier this month, that the US carry out targeted airstrikes and provide weapons to some rebel factions. Kerry had hailed the plan as a “very good” one and met some of the officials, although he declined to give public endorsement.

“Analytically speaking, the path of military escalation by one side or the other is not likely to lead to a final outcome in Syria,” a senior administration official said. “It’s essentially a stalemate.”

CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday that Russia is “trying to crush” rebels forces and that Moscow has not lived up to its commitments over the political process. However, Brennan said the US needs to work with Russia: “There’s going to be no way forward on the political front without active Russian cooperation and genuine Russian interest in moving forward.”


Videos: Scores Killed in Russian-Regime Airstrikes on Friday

Scores of civilians have been killed in Russian and regime airstrikes across northwest Syria on Friday.

Footage from the Tariq al-Bab area of eastern Aleppo city, where more than 20 people died:

TARIQ AL-BAB ALEPPO BOMB 01-07-16


Turkey FM: Erdoğan May Meet Russia’s Putin in August

Turkey’s reconcilation with Russia accelerated on Friday, with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu meeting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at the the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation meeting in Sochi in southern Russia.

Çavuşoğlu said that, as coordination is established over Syria between Moscow and Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in August in Sochi.

The way for co-operation was opened earlier this week when Erdoğan apologized to Putin over November’s downing of a Russian warplane and killing of its pilot near the Turkish-Syrian border. The two sides immediately said they would begin renewing relations over trade and tourism.


Reports: 3rd Regime Warplane Crashes Within A Week

Reports are circulating that another regime warplane has crashed near Damascus.

Now see Regime Warplane Downed by Rebels, Pilot Killed by Jabhat al-Nusra


Rebels Recapture Key Town of Kinsabba in Latakia Province

Rebels have retaken the important town of Kinsabba in Latakia Province in western Syria.

Pro-opposition accounts said the rebel bloc Jaish al-Fatah moved into the town, capturing six tanks and BMP armored vehicles early on Friday morning.

The pro-regime Al-Masdar News acknowledged the defeat, saying that the Syrian military abandoned the town, after rebels established fire control with the capture of the outskirts, “to avoid suffering a large casualty figure in the face of a barrage of artillery shells, mortar shells, and missiles”.

Jaish al-Fatah launched its Yarmouk offensive on Monday, gaining territory in the mountains of Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal Turkmen.

See Syria Daily, June 28: Rebels Counter-Attack in Latakia Province in West

Supported by Russian airstrikes, the Syrian military had occupied Kinsabba in mid-February. Control of the town opened up the possibility of a further advance into opposition-held Idlib Province.

Rebels inside Kinsabba:


Assad: Western Security Services Cooperating with Us

President Assad has repeated his claim that Western security services are secretly working with his regime to fight terrorism.

Assad said, in an interview to be broadcast by Australia’s SBS News on Friday:

They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your government.

They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality.

The President has long asserted that, while nominally backing rebel factions seeking to overthrow him, the Western governments have had the primary concern of stopping “terrorists” who are threatening Syria.