U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday the White House was ruling out any “alliance of convenience” with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against ISIL militants on the grounds that Assad had “lost legitimacy” with Syrians, the AFP reports.
Obama made the remarks to reporters during the G20 summit in Brisbane, adding that any move to align with the Syrian president would “weaken [the] coalition” against ISIL.
In September, the U.S. and several Arab anf European allies launched an airstrike campaign on ISIL militants in Syria, expanding an already-existing campaign against the group in Iraq.
Several rebel groups fighting the Syria government, including several Western-backed brigades, have condemned the airstrikes as counterproductive to their goal of toppling Assad, believing the decision to target only ISIL positions could inadvertedly help bolster his control of the country's more-than-3-year civil war.
