US and UK ‘completely aligned’ over action in Syria

The crisis in Syria is becoming “more complicated” by Russian involvement in tackling Islamic State, the Foreign Secretary has said after talks with his US counterpart.

Philip Hammond said the possibility of a fresh vote on British military action in Syria is kept under constant review but indicated the Government has reservations about any involvement by the Federation, a key ally of Bashar Assad’s regime.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is on a three-day visit to the UK, said American and Russian defence secretaries had held extensive talks by telephone on defeating Isil.

Speaking after the meeting at the Foreign Secretary’s official residence in London, he said: “Would we welcome Russian help in going against Isil? Obviously. We have talked about it for some period of time.”

He added: “But the other part of the equation is Assad and how you resolve the fact that he is a magnate for foreign fighters to come to the region.”

Mr Hammond said the Government had been clear that if it believed airstrikes in Syria were necessary it would go back to parliament. He said: “We keep that situation under continuous review and we will continue to talk to our allies about the military situation in the round.”

He added: “Because of the Russian engagement, the situation in Syria is becoming more complicated. I think we need to discuss this as part of a much bigger problem, the migration pressures, the humanitarian crisis in Syria as well as the need to defeat Isil.”

Read more: John Kerry on refugee crisis 'we cannot just take people in'

Mr Kerry said the US was looking at ways the United States could do more to help alleviate the refugee crisis in Europe that has been partly caused by the exodus of Syrians fleeing the dual terrors of Assad and Isil.

The US has already ploughed £3.6bn into support for Syrian refugees, he said. “We are committed to try to do more and we looking at exactly what it will take to do more,” he added.

Speaking on Channel 4 News last night Mr Kerry said; “We share the same deep concern about Isil…Isil needs to be destroyed, stopped completely.”

He added: “The conversations with Russia right now are to de-conflict.

“The focus is to make certain that our efforts, which are going to continue, we are not abating one bit, we will increase in fact in the efforts we are making against Isil, and we need to make certain that those do not conflict with Russia’s efforts against Isil so obviously it’s important to have that conversation.”

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“We talked about how to move forward…to tackle the growing threat from ISIL and ensure we are joined up between our…

Posted by Channel 4 News on Saturday, September 19, 2015