WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Friday, the head of the Russian General Staff’s operations department Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russia is prepared to share information with the US-led coalition against the Daesh terrorist group on the location of militants in Syria and is expecting the same in return.
"We are not going to cooperate with Russia on Syria until they change their strategy of supporting Assad and instead focus on ISIL [IS]," US Defense Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik on Friday.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant groups, including Daesh, which is banned in a range of countries including Russia.
A US-led international coalition has been launching airstrikes against Daesh targets in Syria since September 2014, without the permission of Damascus or the United Nations. Russia started carrying out precision airstrikes against Daesh in Syria in September 2015, at the request of Assad.
On December 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry that Moscow’s proposal to coordinate with the United States on airstrikes against Daesh in Syria had been on the table for two and a half months.
