Washington admits the possibility of a dialogue between the Russian and US militaries, but only if Moscow's and Syria’s activities are aimed at the struggle against Islamic State. Russia previously offered the U.S. to hold military talks on Syria to discuss certain steps on a settlement of the situation and have a full and clear picture of prospects and intentions of the sides. However, Washington insists that it is only about tactical cooperation of the armies within the Syrian campaign against ISIS.
Meanwhile, Konstantin Sivkov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, thinks that the American interest in Syria is caused by events in Ukraine in particular.
“The West finally recognized the military defeat in Ukraine. The weapons of less than 100 mm caliber have been taken away, the peacemaking speeches of Poroshenko, the end to the shelling of Donbass, all this suggests that there will be a temporary lull. This is another defeat of the West geostrategic offensive for the energy resources of the world. And so the center of gravity switched to Syria in order to get success at least there, to eliminate the legitimate government and thereby provide at least a little success in the overall picture of defeats that the West has been carrying out for the past 15 years,” Sivkov thinks.
According to him, “the West clearly understands that the forces of the jihadists will ensure a military victory over Syria in the conditions, if it is supported by Russia, in principle, it may be the same option as in Ukraine, so the work of the West is going in a similar direction. On the one hand, the Russian blockade of opportunities to assist the legitimate government of Syria, and the other is the establishment of political, moral and psychological conditions for a direct military intervention in Syria.”
Sivkov states that a strike will be applied, of course, to the Syrian troops. These jihadists remain beyond influence. “After the defeat of the Syrian troops they will be eliminated strongly and firmly as well. This is what leads to the power of those people, those regimes that benefit from such situations. Because the example of Libya shows that without defeating the jihadist military forces, they come to power, and destroy any pro-Western regime.”
At the same time, the Syrian Envoy to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, told TASS that the U.S. used ISIS as a platform for interference in the internal affairs of Syria. They also try to weaken the Syrian government “using terrorists,” and to besmirch the Syrian President. If the U.S. really wanted to destroy the threat of ISIS, they would have to support the Syrian army, Jaafari thinks.
