US would welcome Syrian effort to defeat IS

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military coalition fighting the Islamic State would welcome a concerted effort by the Syrian government or its Iranianbacked partner forces to defeat IS in its remaining strongholds in eastern Syria, a U.S. spokesman said Friday.

Army Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the coalition, told reporters at the Pentagon that the U.S. goal is to defeat IS wherever it exists. If others, including the Syrian government and its Iranian and Russian allies, want to fight the extremists as well, then “we absolutely have no problem with that,” he said, speaking from Baghdad.