02:30USA: White House criticizes Russia's involvement in Syria
Spokesperson of the United States Department of State gave his daily press briefing in Washington D.C., Thursday, focusing primarily on the recently declared Russian intentions of military presence to fight the Islamic State in Syria. Kirby said that what is new is not the good relation between Russia and Syria, but "the expansion of it and what appears to be an effort to continue to prop up the Assad regime, which we believe is completely at odds with actually trying to go after the extremist threat, particularly against ISIL, inside Syria."
Kirby backed his concerns by saying, "last time I looked ISIL is not flying any aircraft. So the fact that you have fighter aircraft, air-to-air capabilities, brings up a legitimate question. Because they do not have aircraft, the need to have surface-to-air missile capability is a little bit quizzical."
Regarding German Chancellor Merkel's comments about the necessity of involving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria peace talks, Kirby said, "our position on Assad has not changed. And we have been very clear, very consistent - he needs to go, he needs to step aside. Nothing has changed about that."
When asked about if Merkel's comments indicate a possibility of a change in Germany's position on Syria, Kirby went on to say that, "I can just tell you that we are comfortable - confident, even - that our European allies and partners share the same ultimate goal here in terms of what needs to happen inside Syria."
02:30Spokesperson of the United States Department of State gave his daily press briefing in Washington D.C., Thursday, focusing primarily on the recently declared Russian intentions of military presence to fight the Islamic State in Syria. Kirby said that what is new is not the good relation between Russia and Syria, but "the expansion of it and what appears to be an effort to continue to prop up the Assad regime, which we believe is completely at odds with actually trying to go after the extremist threat, particularly against ISIL, inside Syria."
Kirby backed his concerns by saying, "last time I looked ISIL is not flying any aircraft. So the fact that you have fighter aircraft, air-to-air capabilities, brings up a legitimate question. Because they do not have aircraft, the need to have surface-to-air missile capability is a little bit quizzical."
Regarding German Chancellor Merkel's comments about the necessity of involving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria peace talks, Kirby said, "our position on Assad has not changed. And we have been very clear, very consistent - he needs to go, he needs to step aside. Nothing has changed about that."
When asked about if Merkel's comments indicate a possibility of a change in Germany's position on Syria, Kirby went on to say that, "I can just tell you that we are comfortable - confident, even - that our European allies and partners share the same ultimate goal here in terms of what needs to happen inside Syria."