ISIS News Today: Trump and Putin Issues Joint Statement Reaffirming Commitment to Fight ISIS in Syria
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement on defeating ISIS in Syria. The two leaders casually met on the sidelines of an economic summit in Vietnam over the weekend, where they agreed to reaffirm their commitment to fighting the terrorist group through a joint statement.
In their statement, both Trump and Putin said that the ongoing bloody war against the ISIS does not have a military solution. They also emphasized the need to keep the military communications open throughout the bloody conflict in Syria.
"President Trump and President Putin today, meeting on the margins of the APEC conference in Da Nang, Vietnam, confirmed their determination to defeat ISIS in Syria," reads the statement, which also addresses the long-negotiated areas of agreement between Trump and Putin's dominions. According to reports, the two leaders talked informally at least three times during the summit last Friday and Saturday.
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According to a senior State Department official, the agreement between U.S. and Russia would most likely yield better results this time with the changing landscape in Syria.
"Russia got themselves involved back when it was a civil war. In some respects, the effort to defeat ISIS changed priorities for some. Certainly for us, the priority was defeating ISIS. I think for Russia, it's a question of how long do they want to continue to support conflict," said the official.
The state official also said that Trump and Putin's joint statement reaffirms their commitment to achieving political reconciliation and peace process, which will not only serve the interest of Russia but of the U.S. as well.
During the summit, an official from Russia was asked if they are capable of getting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to cooperate with them in their fight against ISIS. According to the official, they have yet to find that out. "We're going to be testing that, we're going to find out," he said.
Meanwhile, Trump said in a recent statement that Putin was telling the truth when he denied allegations that he had interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump said he believed that Putin meant it when he said that he hadn't meddled in last year's elections.
