US open to talks after Moscow urges engagement with Syria

White House wiling to hold ‘tactical, practical discussions’ on increased Russian deployment in war-torn country

By AP 17 September 2015, 11:17 pm

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A Syrian man carries his two girls as he walks across the rubble following a barrel bomb attack on the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 17, 2015. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting since the rebels seized the east of the city in 2012, confining government forces to the west. (Karam al-Masri/AFP)

MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday strongly urged the United States and its allies to engage the Syrian government as a “partner” in the fight against the Islamic State group, and offered to share any information about its military supplies to Damascus with Washington.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking after talks with his Turkish counterpart in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, said the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq should coordinate its action with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in conformity with international law.

“There is no reason to evade cooperation with the Syrian leadership, which confronts that terror threat,” Lavrov said. He added that “the Syrian president commands the most capable ground force fighting terrorism.”

“Rejecting such a possibility, ignoring the capability of the Syrian army as a partner and ally in the fight against the IS means sacrificing security of the entire region for political or geopolitical intentions and calculations,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses the media after a meeting with his French, German and Ukrainian couterparts at the foreign ministry's Villa Borsig at lake Tegel in Berlin on September 12, 2015. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses the media after a meeting with his French, German and Ukrainian couterparts at the foreign ministry’s Villa Borsig at lake Tegel in Berlin on September 12, 2015. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP)

Washington, which has seen Assad as the cause of the Syrian crisis, has been concerned by an ongoing Russian military buildup in Syria and warned Moscow that it could further destabilize the situation. The US said that Russia has ferried equipment, supplies and military personnel to Syria with the apparent goal of setting up an air base near the coastal town of Latakia, a stronghold of the Syrian president.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke with Lavrov three times this month to discuss the Russian action, said Lavrov offered Tuesday to have military-to-military talks and meetings on the situation in Syria between Moscow and Washington. Kerry suggested that he favored such consultations, noting that the US wants a clear picture of what Russia’s intentions are.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States would be willing to hold “tactical, practical discussions.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Thursday that Moscow is happy to talk to Washington about its military cooperation with Syria and provide any information that the US wants. “We have repeatedly told our American colleagues that we are ready to provide any information they need through the existing channels of communication, so that military experts on both sides could discuss the relevant issues,” she said at a briefing.

Zakharova said that there “can be no talk about any contradiction or conflict of action or interests” between Russia and the US in Syria if Washington’s goal is to fight the Islamic State.

— AFP contributed to this report.