Pentagon chief: Russia is doing virtually nothing to fight ISIS in Syria
According to the Pentagon chief, Ashton Carter, Russia has done "virtually zero" in the fight against the so-called Islamic State in Syria. Speaking in an interview with NBC News that was published on Sunday, January 8th, Carter said that Moscow promised to come in, fight the so-called Islamic State, and help end the civil war in Syria. However, Moscow hasn’t done either of those things and thus, “we are fighting the Islamic State on our own,” Carter said. The Pentagon chief stated that the US is trying to take Mosul and Raqqa from the jihadists, but Russia abstains from these military activities.
Also, he added that Moscow had an opportunity to convince the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, to step down and promote the formation of a new government. The plan was for the new government to include some of the opposition leaders, as such a move could end the civil war. Instead, Russia’s actions, according to Carter, "double reinforced" the civil war.
Moreover, Carter commented on the hacker attacks saying that there is a high possibility for Washington to respond while ruling out the possibility of a “military response”. Earlier the same day, Reince Priebus, the future head of Trump’s administration, said that Donald Trump has agreed with the US intelligences’ conclusion about the cyber attacks from Russia.