“I think it would be good to have Russia on board, but I think this is something the Arabs have to do,” Graham said on the sidelines of the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity, when asked how vital is the cooperation with Russia on destroying the Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries.
In late 2015, Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a 34-nation Islamic coalition to fight terrorism in the Middle East, including Daesh terrorist group.
The United States has created an international coalition, comprising 65 countries, to participate in an aerial campaign against the Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq. However, in Syria, the coalition operates without the approval of Damascus or the UN Security Council.
On September 30, Russia began carrying out separate airstrikes against the terrorist group, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Also in September, Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria established the Baghdad Information Center to coordinate efforts in the fight against the Daesh. The aim of the center is to collect, process, summarize and analyze current data about the Middle East in the context of the fight against Daesh, distributing the information between general staffs of the four countries.
In December, US Defense Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik that the United States does not plan to cooperate with Russia in the fight against Daesh radicals in Syria, and would not cooperate with Russia in intelligence sharing on the terrorist targets in Syria until Moscow changed its strategy of cooperation with official Damascus.
