By Jaime Ortega.
A 20 minute private meeting not enough to put Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama on the same track over Syria.
Obama and Putin agreed to disagree but both said the meeting had been constructive.
Putin is adamant Russia will not be sucked into a war over Syria. And in a warning that could give some US congressmen cold feet, ahead of next week’s vote, Putin said Moscow would continue to support Damascus if an attack is launched.
Barack Obama acknowledged there are deep divisions both at home and abroad over his call for military action.
He refused to say if he would still act, even if Congress doesn’t back him.
But he continued to express confidence that the American public and lawmakers would listen to his argument.
The UK, Canada, France and Turkey all support Obama’s call for military action. However, France is so far the only country in the G20 to commit to joining an attack.
Washington is gearing up for a final vote in Congress, likely to be next week. But the US has so far been unable to win U.N. Security Council approval for military action. The results of a UN chemical analyses could be key, in either softening up Russia’s veto of any strikes or creating even more difficulties for Obama, in casting more doubt over US assertions that the Syrian government carried out the chemical attack in Damascus.
Russia has sent three more naval vessels to the Mediterranean, bringing the total number of Russian Naval ships there to eight.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that one of the key tasks of the naval force in the area was “comprehensive monitoring over the air, underwater and surface situation in the zone of its deployment.” It added that the rotation of Russian warships in the Mediterranean Sea would continue till mid-September.
Earlier the chief of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, said that the ships would also prepare for the possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria.
As US President Barack Obama presses the case for military strikes against Syria, violence is continuing on the ground.
Syrian activists have posted amateur video of what they say was a devastating bombardment of the northern town of Binnish. The footage, filmed on Thursday, shows strikes on the town in Idlib province, some 40 kilometers from the Turkish border.
Meanwhile, Syrian state media says government troops regained the strategic town of Ariha in Idlib province on Friday, following intense battles. On the same day, Syrian tanks bombarded rebel positions in the town of Maloula, southwest of Damascus, one of the country’s key air bases. An army official says the government is trying to seize control of the area before a probable US-led attack.
