The United States has reportedly proposed to cooperate with Russia against the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a group excluded from the Syrian ceasefire which has been primarily focused on fighting the regime in Damascus.
This, according to a report published Thursday in the Washington Post, indicates that the Obama administration is shifting towards coordinating with the Russians against Nusra after months of refusing to work with them.
When asked the US State Department spokesman John Kirby wouldn’t state whether this report was true or not saying that communications between Washington and Moscow are “international diplomatic conversations.”
“But again we’ve been nothing but clear and forthright about what we want to see happen inside Syria and what we want to see the Russians do with respect to the influence we know that they have over [the Syrian regime],” he added.
The US and Russia brokered a ceasefire in Syria on February 27, which explicitly excludes Nusra and Islamic State (ISIS), but they have not been coordinating military operations in the country.
The US-led coalition carry out airstrikes in Syria against ISIS in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) while the Russians have been conducting airstrikes against various armed groups opposed to the Syrian regime – including, at times, ISIS and Nusra.
In May Russia offered to coordinate anti-ISIS operations with the Americans, which was declined by Washington. Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told Rudaw at the time that the American response “was not so positive.”
