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 As leaders gathered in New York at the United Nations General
Assembly, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria with
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said that while it was
vital to coordinate efforts against Islamic State militants this was
not yet happening.
"I think we have concerns about how we are going to go forward,"
Kerry told reporters. U.S. officials said Kerry was working on a new
political initiative in New York that would include Russia and key
regional powers.
A senior State Department official told reporters: "It was a very
thorough exchange of views on both the military and the political
implications of Russia’s increased engagement in Syria."
Kerry also discussed Syria with Iran's foreign minister during a
meeting at the United Nations on Saturday.
It was announced in Baghdad that Russian military officials were
working with counterparts from Iran, Syria and Iraq on intelligence
and security cooperation to counter Islamic State, which has
captured large areas of both Syria and Iraq.
 The move was seen in the region as potentially giving Moscow more
sway in the Middle East.
Russian President Vladimir Putin derided U.S. efforts to end the
Syria war, which has driven a tide of refugees into neighboring
states and Europe.
He said Moscow, which this month sent tanks and warplanes to a
Russian military base in Syria, was itself trying to create a
"coordinated framework" to resolve the conflict.
"We would welcome a common platform for collective action against
the terrorists," Putin said in an interview on Sunday on CBS's "60
Minutes."
PUTIN DERIDES U.S. EFFORTS
Putin, who will meet U.S. President Barack Obama in New York on
Monday, branded U.S. support for rebel forces in Syria as illegal
and ineffective and said Damascus should be included in
international efforts to fight Islamic State.
He mocked U.S. plans to train up to 5,400 Syrian rebels to fight the
group. "It turns out that only 60 of these fighters have been
properly trained, and as few as four or five people actually carry
weapons," he said.
Putin said Russia had no plans now to deploy combat troops. "Russia
will not take part in any field operations on the territory of Syria
or in other states; at least, we do not plan it for now," he said.
Referring to the risk of radicalized fighters returning home after
fighting with Islamic State, he said: "There are more than 2,000
militants in Syria from the former Soviet Union. Instead of waiting
for them to return back home we should help President al-Assad fight
them there, in Syria."
Critics have urged Obama to be more decisive in the Middle East and
Syria, where the United Nations has said 250,000 people have died
after four years of conflict, and say lack of a clear American
policy has given Islamic State opportunities to expand.
Divisions over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remained
critical.
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, like Russia a big military
supporter of Assad, told reporters any discussion of political
reform in Syria should come only after the threat of "terrorism" had
been removed.
The United States, Britain and some other allies in recent days have
softened demands that Assad immediately leave power, raising the
possibility that he could stay during a transition.
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U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Friday: "We do
not think it is credible for Assad to remain for any length of time
as the leader," but added: "We appreciate there may be a political
solution here where Assad is there for some period of time in some
capacity while a transition takes place."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, however, told ARD
television on Sunday that the formation of a transitional Syrian
government should be kept separate from discussions on the future of
Assad.
KEEPING THE FORCES APART
A senior State Department official said if the Russians were going
to play a greater role in the fight against Islamic State, it was
essential to have talks on "de-confliction" - measures to avert
inadvertent clashes between the militaries.
"We are just at the beginning of trying to understand what the
Russians' intentions are in Syria, in Iraq, and to try to see if
there are mutually beneficial ways forward here. We have got a long
way to go in that conversation," the official said.
France said it had launched its first air strikes in Syria,
destroying an Islamic State training camp in the east of the country
to stop the group from attacking French interests and to protect
Syrian civilians.
France had until now only struck Islamic State targets in
neighboring Iraq.
France had feared strikes in Syria could be counter-productive and
could strengthen Assad, but it was shaken by a series of deadly
attacks by Islamist militants this year.
In addition, Paris has become alarmed by Islamic State gains in
northern Syria and the possibility of France being sidelined in
negotiations to reach a political solution in Syria.
A French diplomatic source said Paris needed to be one of the
"hitters" in Syria - those taking direct military action - to
legitimately take part in any negotiations for a political solution
to the conflict.
Israel, which borders Syria and has previously attacked sites in
Syria, carried out at least three air strikes against Syrian army
targets on the Golan Heights on Sunday, rebel sources and a
monitoring group said.
(Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in Moscow, Stephen Kalin in
Baghdad, David Brunnstrom, Lesley Wroughton, Parisa Hafezi and Denis
Dyomkin at the United Nations; Writing by David Storey; Editing by
Louis Charbonneau, Eric Walsh and Diane Craft)
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