US 'Highly Unlikely' to Work With Assad to Fight Daesh

It "is highly unlikely" that Washington will team up with Syrian President Bashar Assad to crush Daesh, a US Department of State official said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States is unlikely to work with Syrian President Bashar Assad on a campaign to defeat Daesh, a senior Department of State official said Tuesday.

"In terms of cooperating with Assad fighting ISIS [Daesh], I think that is highly unlikely," the official told reporters.

The official stressed on Tuesday that the United States remained committed to a political solution to Syria’s civil war.

Assad’s future in the country should be decided through a "Syrian-owned process," the official urged.

The possibility of US cooperation with Assad was raised last week after White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said Washington should accept the political reality in Syria and focus on eliminating Daesh.

Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including al-Nusra Front and Daesh, banned in a range of countries, including Russia.

The US-led coalition of 68 nations started to carry out airstrikes against Daesh in Syria and Iraq in 2014, with the strikes in Syria not being authorized by the government of Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.