WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US government offered increased cooperation against terror groups in return for Russia getting Syria to stop bombing US-backed rebels, according to media reports.
The reported offer suggested that Obama finally recognized there were genuine terrorist organizations among the anti-Assad rebels in addition to Daesh, Dal Santo suggested.
"I can only suppose that the United States has come to its senses," University of Copenhagen History Professor Matthew Dal Santo said. "[Washington] seems to have understood it is in the US interest to work with Russia in Syria."
Washington still supports the al-Nusra Front in Syria even though it is an affiliate of al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization that killed more than 3,000 Americans in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"The proposal can none the less be interpreted as an acknowledgment by Washington of the importance of Russia and Assad's recent victories against it," Dal Santo observed.
The reported proposal could be a trial balloon to explore expanded talks to end the Syrian civil war, he noted.
"If Washington is thinking about a political settlement, it's essentially an opening round in negotiations, indicating to Moscow which groups it wants involved in a post-civil war Syria and which it is prepared to see go," Dal Santo stated.
The reported US offer could also be a sign Obama wanted to revive the peace process on Syria with Russia, Dal Santo maintained.
"Moscow will find the political ramifications of the proposal attractive: this is after all a sign of the emergence of that 'grand alliance' Putin called for when he first dispatched Russian forces."
AntiWar.com senior analyst Jason Ditz pointed out that that President Assad’s revelation of secret talks with Western allies in an interview with Australia‘s SBS network on July 1 could be a similar diplomatic maneuver.
"Secret channels of information from Western countries to Syria are nothing new, and it would not be surprising if that process also included some informal, behind-the-scenes talks with the Assad government."
Ditz also questioned Assad’s suggestion that the Obama administration did not know about the secret talks.
"I doubt very much that such talks are really ‘behind America's back’, so much as exploring options while the Obama administration maintains plausible deniability."
Obama might be using European allies to hold exploratory talks with Damascus, Ditz remarked.
"It would not at all be out of character for the United States to use European allies to send out trial balloons while publicly they continue to spin their wheels in bilateral talks with Russia on a Syria deal."
Other analysts have suggested that US allies may be talking to Damascus behind Washington’s back because they recognize the reality of the Syrian government’s survival.
