U.S. to Iraq: If Russia Helps You Fight ISIS, We Can't

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

The U.S. has told Iraq's leaders they must choose between ongoing American support in the battle against militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and asking the Russians to intervene instead.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the Iraqis had promised they would not request any Russian airstrikes or support for the fight against ISIS.

Shortly after leaving Baghdad, Dunford told reporters traveling with him that he had laid out a choice when he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi earlier Tuesday.

"I said it would make it very difficult for us to be able to provide the kind of support you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well," Dunford said. "We can't conduct operations if the Russians were operating in Iraq right now."

He said there was "angst" in the U.S. when reports surfaced that al-Abadi had said he would welcome Russian airstrikes in Iraq. The U.S., Dunford said, "can't have a relationship right now with Russia in the context of Iraq."

The ultimatum to Iraq comes as the U.S. grapples with Russia's dramatically increased role in the war in Syria, just to the west of Iraq.

In Syria, President Vladimir Putin has essentially rescued his close ally, President Bashar Assad, from opposition forces that had been inching closer to his seat of power prior to the beginning of Russian airstrikes at the end of September.

Russia's intervention was not telegraphed beforehand to the U.S., and while Moscow first insisted its primary target was ISIS in Syria, it became apparent immediately that the Russian planes were targeting other opposition groups more in a clear effort to shore up Assad's beleaguered forces.

The choice given to Abadi in Iraq by Dunford on Tuesday is a clear indication that the U.S. is not willing to compete with Russia for airspace over two neighboring countries deeply intertwined in the same convoluted war.

The U.S. and Russia put into practice new rules on Tuesday designed to minimize the risk of air collisions between military aircraft over Syria.

Reuters reports that the U.S. ultimatum to Iraq puts Abadi in a difficult position, as his own country's ruling political alliance and some powerful Shiite groups have been pushing him to request Russian air support.

The news agency said a proposal to request Russian strikes had been put to Abadi last week, but that he was yet to respond.

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U.S. to Iraq: If Russia Helps You Fight ISIS, We Can't

Two Hostages of Syrian Jihadists Say Chemical Attack Was Launched By the Rebels

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• Two Europeans who were allegedly abducted and held hostage for several months in Syria claim they overheard a conversation between their captors suggesting the Syrian rebels were behind the deadly chemical attack in Damascus. The men were released on Sunday.
• Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin and Italian journalist Domenico Quiric both say they were able to eavesdrop on an English-language Skype session between their abductors in which they allegedly revealed that it was the Syrian rebels who perpetrated the attack so that the West would intervene.
• "In this conversation, they said that the gas attack on two neighborhoods of Damascus was launched by the rebels as a provocation to lead the West to intervene militarily," Quirico told the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa. "We were unaware of everything that was going on during our detention in Syria, and therefore also with the gas attack in Damascus."
• Piccinin said he has a "moral duty" to share what he heard. He also stressed that he and his fellow hostage were completely cut-off from the outside world and didn't even know chemical weapons had been used in the first place.
• "The government of Bashar al-Assad did not use sarin gas or other types of gas in the outskirts of Damascus," Piccinin reportedly told Belgium's RTL radio station.
• Quirico, a journalist, correctly acknowledged that there is no proof that the conversation he overheard was based on irrefutable facts. He was sure to point out that he "cannot say for sure that it is true because I have no means of confirming the truth of what was said." However, he also revealed that one of the three people he overheard in the alleged conversation identified himself as a Free Syrian Army general, according to the La Stampa report.
• Italy's Quotidiano Nazionale reports Quirico as saying: "I am extremely surprised that the United States could think about intervening, knowing very well how the Syrian revolution has become international jihadism -- in other words Al-Qaeda."
• The 62-year-old journalist was highly critical of the opposition in Syria in another interview, claiming that radical Islamic groups operating in Syria want to take down Assad and "create a caliphate and extend it to the entire Middle East and North Africa," the Russia-friendly RT reports.
• Peccinin agreed with Quirico, telling RTL that it would be "insane and suicidal for the West to support these people."
• The two men were reportedly kidnapped in Syria last April by a group of heavily armed men in pickup trucks. They were believed to be with the Free Syrian Army, though that has not been verified.

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Two Hostages of Syrian Jihadists Say Chemical Attack Was Launched By the Rebels

Syria Rebel Coalition Rejects Russia Chemical Weapons Handover Proposal

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• The military wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC), an umbrella opposition group fighting against President Bashar Assad, has flatly rejected a proposal by Russia which would see the regime hand over control of its vast chemical weapons stockpiles to international control to avoid U.S. military strikes.
• After more than two and a half years of bloodshed in Syria which has left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced, the Russian initiative was announced Monday and quickly agreed to by Assad's government.
• The U.S., Israel and France have voiced cautious optimism that the plan could yield results, but remain skeptical that Syria is genuine in its offer to hand over the weapons, and concerned about how such an operation could actually function in a country where fighting between government forces and rebels is intensifying.
• Late Wednesday, Gen. Salim Idriss, the head of the SNC's military council, said in a video posted online that he and his fellow rebel commanders "announce our definitive rejection of the Russian initiative to place chemical weapons under international custody."
• "We ask that the international community not be content with withdrawing chemical weapons, which are a criminal instrument, but to hold the perpetrator accountable and prosecute him at the International Criminal Court," Idriss said, blaming Assad for an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack on the Damascus suburbs which the Obama administration says left at least 1,400 people dead.
• French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday, meanwhile, that a United Nations team of inspectors would likely publish its report on the attack in the eastern Ghouta suburbs on Monday.

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Syria Rebel Coalition Rejects Russia Chemical Weapons Handover Proposal

Putin Calls Obama's Syria Military Push 'Nonsense'

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• As President Barack Obama seems Congressional approval for a military strike on Syria, his counterpart in the Kremlin said Saturday that Washington's chemical weapons call is "unimaginable nonsense."
• Washington says Syria's government used chemical weapons against its own people. Moscow says it did not.
• Once again, the two old enemies are sparring over Middle East unrest, with Putin dead-set against military action on their former ally.
• Ria Novosti newswire reported today had Putin defending Syria's government, saying he believed they did not use chemical weapons against. The United Nations has not been able to confirm the validity of Washington's charge at this time.
• For his part, Putin did not deny the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but said he doubts it was used by the government. Putin has basically come out and said that chemical weapons were being used to scapegoat the government of Bashar Assad.
• "I am sure this was no more than a provocation by those looking to drag other countries (into the conflict) and obtain support of powerful international player, particularly the United States," Putin said about the chemical attack that reportedly killed hundreds last week. "Claims that the proof exists, but is classified and cannot be presented to anybody are below criticism," Putin said.

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Putin Calls Obama's Syria Military Push 'Nonsense'