ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US and Russia are reportedly discussing the prospect of undergoing "concrete" military coordination in Syria in order to force Islamic State (ISIS) from the city of Raqqa, that groups primary stronghold in Syria. This is according to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov who is cited as saying so by Russia's Interfax news service. This follows visits by US Secretary of State John Kerry and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan to Moscow this month. It also comes just after Russia gave decisive support to a Syrian military offensive against ISIS in the ancient city of Palmyra which they successfully recaptured on Sunday. The US and Russia lead two different air campaigns in Syria. While Russia has reportedly drawn down its military presence in the country it is still carrying out airstrikes against ISIS. Previously it had bombed many other armed groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Damascus. The US has been leading a multinational coalition air campaign which has been launching airstrikes against ISIS in eastern Syria since September 2014. It has pointedly refused to coordinate with the Assad regime which it believes to be illegitimate nor later the Russians who they say weren't bombing ISIS anyway.
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