U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said that the United States is worried that Russia could indiscriminately attack moderate Syrian rebels who are fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Carter said that if Russia were to fight the Islamic State (IS) militants and pursue a political solution to the crisis instead of "indiscriminately" attack Assad’s enemies, then the United States and Russia could "find areas of cooperation."
"But if it's a matter of pouring gasoline on the fire on the civil war in Syria, that is certainly not productive," he said.
Carter was speaking at a Pentagon news conference alongside Ukraine’s minister of defense, Colonel General Stepan Poltorak.
He said that even though the United States and Russia shared the desire to expel IS from Syria, the United States continued to support Ukraine and condemn Russia’s military actions in the country.