Let’s Work Together: Russia, US Need to Coordinate Their Efforts in Syria

If Russia and the United States coordinate even a little bit in Syria, it will bring serious progress in the fight against ISIL, Political Science Professor and former member of the European parliament Yvan Blot told RIA Novosti.

Russia launched an aerial campaign on Wednesday, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, targeting eight IS military hardware, arms and fuel depots. To that end, Moscow recently established a joint Baghdad Information Center with Iran, Iraq and Syria to coordinate efforts in combating the terrorist group.

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that it has already carried out some 20 combat missions in Syria since the campaign started, striking at least eight ISIL targets.

To succeed in the fight against ISIL, both Russia and the United States need to work together, the French political scientists said.

"There must be a minimum level of coordination [between Russia and the United States] to simply not to act against each other, sometimes to organize briefings to look at results. I think it'd be a great progress if this happens," Blot told RIA Novosti.

Although it will be hard for the two superpowers to coordinate, it could be done, the French scholar argued, and brought up the example of World War II when the Allies and Soviet Union forces united in their fight against Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Russia and the United States don't have to have a unified command center, just like during the times of World War II. All they need is a coordinated action, Blot  said.

Putin was right when he said that currently it is ISIL who is the main enemy for everyone and that's why Russia joined the international coalition to fight terrorism. The world should listen to Putin's words, otherwise "the world won't see any positive results," the French scholar said.