U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Russia's military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could raise the risk of confrontation with coalition forces fighting Islamic State in that Arab state.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Kerry said he had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the United States was worried by Moscow's military backing for Assad in Syria's civil war, Reuters reports.
“These actions could provoke a further escalation of the conflict and lead to the loss of more innocent lives, increasing the flow of refugees and risking a confrontation with the anti-ISIS (Islamic State) coalition operating in Syria," Kerry said.
As Reuters reported, Russia has built up naval infantry forces and heavy equipment including tanks and helicopters at Syria's Latakia airbase, U.S. officials say, raising the possibility of air combat missions in Syrian airspace.
Taking into account Secretary Kerry’s above statements, EADaily draws attention to the fact that U.S. Administration lacks a circumspect strategy of actions in Syria. A few days before, John Kerry was quite positive about the cooperation of the United States and Russia in Syria. He said U.S. is open for direct talks with Russia over Syria. According to Kerry, President Barack Obama believes military-to-military discussions with Russia are "an important next step." Now, one can see that the American diplomacy has backtracked to the erstwhile harsh criticism of Russia over its “interference” with the Syrian conflict. All this is a reason to question the ability of the current U.S. Administration to set specific goals in Syria, where the world has faced one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last decade, and fulfill them.