US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter says that it is not yet clear whether the US and Russia have common interests with regards to the situation in Syria. Carter added that it is still "possible" that the two sides could work together.
"I think we’re prepared to discuss a way ahead with Russia where the political and the military move in parallel,” he said. “But that’s only possible on a course that is going to have an accompanying political transition, because to do otherwise — in a phrase I’ve used before — is to pour gasoline on the ISIL [another name for ISIS] phenomenon rather than to lead to the defeat of ISIL."