Russian president slams West’s refusal to work with Syria’s Assad as ‘enormous mistake’ in fight against Islamic State
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for a “broad coalition” to fight the Islamic State group in Syria, telling the UN General Assembly in New York that such a coalition was comparable to the “anti-Hitler” alliance that fought together during World War II.
“We must address the problems that we are all facing and create a broad anti-terror coalition,” Putin said in his first address to the world body in a decade. Muslim countries, he said, “should play a key role” in the fight.
Putin took to the podium after US President BarackObama offered to work with Russia and Iran on ending the carnage in Syria, but slammed support for Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad.
The Russian leader took aim at the West’s refusal to cooperate with Assad’s forces to stamp out the Islamic State, which now controls huge swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
It is an “enormous mistake to not cooperate with the Syrian group which is fighting the terrorists face-to-face,” he said.
“We must acknowledge that nobody other than President Assad’s armed forces are truly fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria,” Putin added.
He also criticized the West for arming “moderate” rebels in Syria, saying they later come to join the Islamic State terror group. Without naming the United States, the Russian leader said a “single center of dominance has emerged after the end of Cold War,” and attempts have been made to revise the role of the United Nations.
Washington has insisted that Assad must leave power as a prerequisite for any settlement to the conflict, while European powers have softened their stance, signalling he could stay on in an interim role.
Putin’s remarks come as Russia has moved in recent weeks to increase its military presence in Syria and share intelligence on the Islamic State group with Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Putin was due to hold his first meeting with Obama in over two years later Monday, on the sidelines of the world gathering.
As reported by The Times of Israel