AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Hussein Ibish was quoted in an Al Jazeera article about Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama trading barbs at the U.N. General Assembly over the fate of Syria and President Bashar Al-Assad. Putin stated that Assad is the only leader with the capability to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region. Obama countered Putin’s argument with the idea of a transitional government indicating the United States was entertaining the notion of supporting the Assad government temporarily until the worst of the crisis is resolved. Ibish commented that it’s important for the United States to maintain its strategy “to counter both [ISIL and Assad] simultaneously no matter how difficult that may be.” Switching tactics and favoring Assad “would be playing into the hands of ISIL perfectly and validating their narrative in an extremely dangerous and counterproductive manner,” concluded Ibish.