Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has denounced the West’s failure to cooperate with the Syrian government in battle against Daesh terror group as a huge mistake.
"We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face," Putin said in his address to the UN General Assembly on Monday.
The Russian leader noted that no one but President Bashar al-Assad's armed forces are truly fighting the Daesh militants and other terrorist groups operating inside the Arab country.
Putin also called for a “broad anti-terror coalition” to fight Daesh and stressed that Muslim countries "should play a key role” in it. He said an international anti-Daesh union on the model of "anti-Hitler" wartime alliance must be created.
The comments come as the United States has once and again called for President Assad to step down as a pre-requisite for the resolution of the crisis in Syria.
The US and its allies including the Persian Gulf Arab kingdoms – which have actively supported the foreign-backed war in Syria since 2011 – have been involved in airstrikes against alleged Daesh militants in Syria without authorization from the Syrian government.
The so-called US-led coalition has also been engaged in similar operations against Daesh terrorists in neighboring Iraq, but they have been assessed by Iraqi authorities as largely ineffective since they have not resulted in eliminating the terror threat in any parts of the country where the Takfiri militants maintain presence.
Washington and its allies have recently accused Moscow of a covert military buildup in Syria. Russia, however, has dismissed the charges saying it will send troops to Syria if Damascus makes such a request