News / Military
By Howard Altman / Tampa Bay Times / July 15, 2016
PHOTO: A family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in April on the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. {Getty Images)
BAGHDAD — Two top U.S. commanders in the war against the Islamic State said they have concerns about sharing intelligence with the Russians — a plan pitched by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry is looking for a way to reduce civilian casualties that are mounting despite a shaky cease fire and to reduce the chances of conflict among the United States, Russia, and their proxies on the battlefield.
“I have some concerns, obviously,” about the concept of sharing intelligence with the Russians given their actions, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Tampa Bay Times on Thursday. Those concerns were heightened by recent Russian air strikes in Syria, including one last month that hit a rebel group aligned with the United States.
Votel declined comment on the plan itself, which the Washington Post said was presented Thursday to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Votel, who flew to the region for a visit last week from his headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base, said follow-through is an area in need of improvement. He uses the military’s favored acronym for the so-called Islamic State.
“We would like to see the Russians do what they say they’re going to do,” he said, “that they’re going to target ISIL as they talked about.”
Votel added, “We’d like to them play a helpful role with the Syrian regime. I think they have influence with them and I think they have the ability to use that influence to prevent Syria from bombing her own people — for the destruction of cities, for violations of the cessation of hostilities.”
Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, on-the-ground commander of U.S. and coalition forces fighting Islamic State, raised his own doubts about the plan to share intelligence. His reasoning was simple: “They’re Russians.”
“They are certainly not trying to win friends,” MacFarland told a group of reporters traveling with Votel. “Maybe influence people. But they have a very kinetic way of trying to do that.”
The plan, first reported by the Washington Post, calls for setting up an intelligence sharing center in Amman, Jordan. Called the Joint Implementation Group, it would provide a way for Moscow and Washington to share intelligence, targeting, and air operations in the fight against Islamic State and the al-Nusra front, an al-Qaida offshoot in Syria.
Currently, communication between the two superpowers is limited to information about aircraft and target location. The new initiative would greatly expand that.
The initiative would greatly expand those efforts — and in the prospect, establish a tacit cooperation between the United States and the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. President Barack Obama came close to launching air strikes on Assad’s forces before backing away in August 2013.
The new agreement would allow the Syrian military to take lethal action against the al-Nusra Front. And it would allow the Russians to use airpower to defend Syrian government forces in designated areas, if agreed upon in advance with the U.S.
As the cease-fire effort falters in Syria, more civilians are dying in a civil war that already has killed hundreds of thousands and created nearly 5 million refugees, according to the United Nations.
Asked directly whether he’s comfortable sharing intelligence with the Russians, Votel demurred Thursday.
“I think that’s probably a better question for the intelligence community,” he said. “If that’s what the decision is, we will find creative ways to share that information.”
Cooperation has its benefits, he said.
“I think it is important that if we are going to do that, it is important our objectives are aligned and we focus on the same things,” he said. “If we agreed to that, then it would probably be easier for us.”
Recent Russian air strikes in Syria, including one on the border with U.S. ally Jordan, have done nothing to build trust, he said.
Asked how he believes the Russians choose their targets, Votel said, “That’s a great question. I don’t know. It’s one of the thing that makes it difficult to understand exactly what they are trying to do. It appears to be out of the area of which they’ve been focused on.”
An air strike along the Jordanian border targeted “a unit we are supporting,” Votel said. He would not name the unit, calling it only “a vetted Syrian opposition group.”
The attack “doesn’t reconcile with me.”
Lt. Gen. MacFarland said his own military experience has him questioning Russian motives.
“I grew up patrolling the Fulda Gap as a young cavalry officer,” said MacFarland, referring to a mountain pass in Germany under heavy guard during the Cold War to head off any advance by Soviet tanks. “So obviously I am a prisoner of my experience like we all are. I’d be a little leery about giving too much information to the Russians, but I fully trust our government officials to understand this.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican, opposes the Kerry plan.
In a prepared statement, Rubio said Friday, “As many of Secretary Kerry’s own officials at the State Department warned earlier this month, a continued focus on negotiations at all costs will only continue a status quo that will continue to present increasingly dire, if not disastrous, humanitarian, diplomatic, and terrorism-related challenges.”
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat, spoke more favorably, but with skepticism.
“If an agreement would enhance our ability to defeat ISIS and Al Nusra, that’s in the interest of the U.S.,” he said. “But be on guard about an agreement with Putin.”
U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, and David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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