Page 4 - Aruba Today
P. 4
A4
U.S. NEWSSaturday 12 September
Obama warns Russia against helping arm Syrian government
JULIE PACE President Barack Obama waves upon arrival at the White House lives and created a vacu- it’s unclear whether they’ll
NATALIYA VASILYEVA in Washington, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, from a trip to Fort Meade, um for extremism to thrive. meet. Some analysts be-
Associated Press Md., where he held a town hall with service members on the For months, U.S. officials lieve Russia wants to have
WASHINGTON (AP) — 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. have been gauging Rus- its military force in Syria
President Barack Obama sia’s willingness to help re- ready for action by the time
warned Russia Friday (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) start a political process to Putin arrives in New York.
against doubling down on remove Assad from power. Despite the warnings from
its support for Syrian Presi- pursuit, arguing that Syria’s force to fight the IS.” Obama, however, painted the U.S., Lavrov said Russia
dent Bashar Assad, casting army is the most efficient Russia’s military moves a grim prospect of that would continue to supply
a recent buildup of Russian force to fight the extremist have punctured what had happening in light of Rus- Assad with weapons that
military equipment and network. been a notable uptick in sia’s new action. he said will help defeat Is-
personnel in Syria as an ef- “You cannot defeat Is- optimism among U.S. of- “It could prevent us from lamic State fighters.
fort to prop up the embat- lamic State with air strikes ficials about the prospect arriving at the political solu- “I can only say once again
tled leader. only,” Lavrov said, a dig that Moscow was tiring tion that’s ultimately need- that our servicemen and
“The strategy they’re pursu- at Obama’s strategy. “It’s of Assad, its longtime ally. ed to bring a peace back military experts are there
ing right now of doubling necessary to cooperate Syria has been gripped by to Syria,” he said. to service Russian military
down on Assad is a mis- with ground troops and the civil war for more than four Secretary of State John hardware, to assist the Syr-
take,” Obama said during Syrian army is the most effi- years, a conflict that has Kerry has spoken twice with ian army in using this hard-
a town hall with U.S. military cient and powerful ground claimed more than 250,000 Lavrov this week to warn ware,” he said at a news
personnel. that the Russian military conference in Moscow.
Russia denies it’s trying to buildup could lead to an “And we will continue to
bolster Assad and instead escalation of the bloody supply it to the Syrian gov-
says its increased military conflict. The crisis in Syria ernment in order to ensure
activity is part of the inter- is also likely to be a major its proper combat readi-
national effort to defeat topic when world leaders ness in its fight against ter-
the Islamic State, the ter- head to the United Nations rorism.”
ror group that has wreaked later this month for an an- Russia has been a longtime
havoc in both Syria and nual gathering. backer of Syria, and it has
Iraq. Earlier Friday, Russian Obama and Russian Presi- supported Assad through-
Foreign Minister Sergey Lav- dent Vladimir Putin are out the civil war by shield-
rov called on world powers both scheduled to attend ing him from U.N. sanctions
to join his country in that the UN meetings, though and providing weapons.q
