US should negotiate with Syrian govt. to defeat ISIL: Analyst

An American journalist says if the United States wants to defeat the ISIL terrorist group, it must negotiate with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Negotiating with the Syrian government, particularly with President Bashar al-Assad is fundamental to the US having success with ISIS (ISIL)," said Mike Harris, a financial editor at Veterans Today.

"It’s time to normalize relationships with Syria, as well as with the other countries in the region, mainly Iran," he added. 

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington eventually would have to negotiate with Assad for in order to find a political solution of the Syrian crisis.

"We have to negotiate in the end," Kerry said when asked whether the US would be willing to talk with the Syrian leader.  

 “We have to stop this causing wars in order to [make profit]," Harris told Press TV on Sunday. "Elements of our government and other governments cause wars in order to earn profit from them and to gain material support for terrorism."

 “It’s time for the world [to] unite and realize that there’s an organized group that is behind the state-sponsored terrorism, and those are the ones who are providing material support to terrorism,” he stated.

“When we look at the theft of oil from Syria, the theft of oil from Iraq, the theft of artifacts, every time that commodity of oil and artifacts are stolen, someone is transporting them… someone is buying [them], some bank is settling the accounts,” he said.

“We have to realize [that] all of the people who are involved into this are also supporting terrorism,” he noted. “And they too must be liable to civil and criminal penalties for their support. If we cut off the money to terrorism, the terrorism will go away.” 

“And it is vitally important that the elected US government negotiate with Syria, negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad in order to come with a cogent strategy to stop this lawlessness,” he concluded.

Kerry’s latest remarks are in contrast with the comments made by him earlier this month in Saudi Arabia where he said that military pressure might be necessary to oust Assad.

“He's lost any semblance of legitimacy, but we have no higher priority than disrupting and defeating Daesh (ISIL) and other terror networks", Kerry said on March 5.

“Ultimately a combination of diplomacy and pressure will be needed to bring about a political transition. Military pressure particularly may be necessary given President Assad's reluctance to negotiate seriously," he added.

The United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the country.

According to the United Nations, more than 210,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria for nearly four years.

The ISIL terrorists -- some of whom were amongst militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government -- now control large parts of Syria and Iraq.

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