Baghdad Information Center Can Function in Any Middle Eastern State

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Baghdad Information Center currently coordinating military action against the Islamic State (ISIL) jihadist group can operate in any Middle Eastern country, if that is a condition for a collaboration with the US-led anti-ISIL coalition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

In late September, Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran created the Baghdad Information Center to coordinate joint military actions against ISIL. The four countries are represented by officers of the national armed forces, whose primary task is to collect and analyze data related to ISIL operations in the region.

"As we created an information center in Baghdad, we invited the Americans and the Turks to join in, as well as any other country that is able and willing to contribute. If Baghdad does not appear suitable as the place to work together, we are ready to cooperate, to coordinate our actions with the members of the US-led coalition in any other country in the region, any other capital," Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian NTV television channel.

Syria has been in the state of a civil war since a 2011 political collapse, with government forces fighting on multiple fronts against so-called moderate opposition faction and numerous extremist insurgent groups, including Islamic State.

A US-led coalition of over 60 countries has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria without the approval of either the UN Security Council or Damascus.

On September 30, Russia began precision airstrikes against IS in Syria, following a request from the country's President Bashar Assad.