President Barack Obama is offering a harsh assessment of Russia’s role as he addresses the global effort to fight the Islamic State.
Obama says flatly that “Russia’s the outlier” in the fight against IS.
Obama says a coalition of 65 countries is pushing back against the Islamic State, from places as far-flung as Australia and Southeast Asia.
And he says that Russia, on the other hand, is part of “a coalition of two.” He pointed to Russia and Iran as supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Obama says that Russian cooperation in resolving the Syrian civil war would be “enormously helpful.”
The President went on and said the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey points to an “ongoing problem” with Russia’s airstrikes in Syria.
Obama says Turkey “has a right to defend its territory and its airspace.” And he says that Russia is operating very close to the Turkish border as it goes after moderate opposition groups that are supported by Turkey and a wide range of countries.
The president says that if Russia would instead concentrate its airstrikes on the Islamic State group, then mistakes would be “less likely to occur.”
Obama is urging both Turkey and Russia to take measures “to discourage any kind of escalation” over the downing of the Russian warplane.
And Obama says that the downing of the plane underscores the importance of moving forward on efforts to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria.
The president spoke during a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande.
(AP)
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One Response
I see, Mr. BOMA . Did you also watch the video where YOUR nice MODERATE friends are spray shooting the 2 pilots as they are coming down after being ejected from the burning plane. Screaming AHLA ACCBAR, sounds like nice ppl.
As they say tell me who are your friends and I will tell who are you .