Syria President Bashar Assad told a BBC broadcast audience that his government is kept in the loop about U.S.-led airstrikes on Islamic State terrorists.
He said the information his government receives comes by way of third parties, like Iraqi officials, BBC reported.
“Sometimes they convey [a] message, [a] general message, but there’s nothing tactical,” he said, Fox News reported. “There is no dialogue. There’s, let’s say, information, but not dialogue.”
Mr. Assad has sent his own air force pilots into battle against the Islamic State, but refuses to join the coalition of fighters that are led by the United States.
“No, definitely we cannot and we don’t have the will and we don’t want [to join coalition] for one simple reason — because we cannot be in an alliance with countries which support terrorism,” Mr. Assad said, Fox News reported.
He also said he refused to discuss attacks against the Islamic State with the United States because “they don’t talk to anyone, unless he’s a puppet, and they easily trample over international law, which is about our sovereignty now, so they don’t talk to us, we don’t talk to them,” he said, Fox News reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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