The Pentagon would not confirm U.S. State Department allegations that Syrian President Bashar Assad is directly aiding the Islamic State through targeted airstrikes by his government forces.
The Syrian city of Aleppo is the source of many of the potential moderate opposition recruits the U.S. hopes to train outside of the country and then return to Syria to have a stronger local force able to oppose the Islamic State.
But Aleppo is under attack by Assad forces, and on Saturday, was hit by barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters that reportedly killed 70 civilians.
Assad is also targeted by the Islamic State, which is advancing in the Aleppo province.
On Monday, the U.S. Embassy-Syria tweeted, “Reports indicate that the regime is making air-strikes in support of ISIL’s advance on Aleppo, aiding extremists against Syrian population,” and further alleged that Assad’s forces aligned themselves with the terror group long ago.
“We have long seen that the Asad (sic) regime avoids [Islamic State] lines, in complete contradiction to the regime’s claims to be fighting [the Islamic State],” the embassy posted.
The U.S. State Department, in its daily briefing with reporters, repeated that messaging Monday, and added that Assad “does not want to use his forces to root out [the Islamic State’s] safe haven in Syria, but really on the contrary, is actively seeking to bolster their position for his own cynical reasons,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the department would not confirm the reports on Assad.
“I am not going to speak for what Assad’s force is doing or the purpose,” Warren said, reiterating that the U.S. mission in Syria is to destroy the Islamic State’s supply lines there to weaken its ability to operate in Iraq.
However, if verified, the Assad regime’s direct support of the Islamic State to attack civilian populations where the U.S. has been trying to recruit a moderate force of rebels to fight back against the Islamic State could deeply complicate U.S. plans there.
The U.S. is planning to train and equip up to 5,000 rebels this year at four sites outside of Syria, and then return those rebels to fight against the Islamic State in their hometowns.
