WASHINGTON, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – Reported Russian and US intelligence sharing in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) could be a good sign of future collaboration between the two countries, US Senator Carl Levin told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
"I hope the stories are true...in terms of sharing intelligence between Russia and the United States," Levin, who is the chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
Asked if he could confirm recent reports of increased US-Russian intelligence sharing on the IS, which came after a Tuesday meeting in Paris between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry, Levin said that members of Congress will "know a lot more when we get back" in session.
"If it were true it would be...a good sign of the power of horror of terror to unite people against it," Levin said, adding that "there ought to be common ground [between Russia and the United States] on some things".
"ISIS ought to unite the world, including people who now have unhappily chilly relations, which is the case with US and Russia and the West," the Senator noted.
According to Levin, the fight against the IS is "going to be a long battle" but "now there could be a turning point in the world, in the Islamic world and the non-Islamic world against a common threat".
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a radical Sunni group known for its extreme violence. IS militants have been fighting the Syrian government since 2012 and extended their activity to northern and western Iraq in June 2014.
The United States has formed an international coalition in order to fight the terrorist group, with coalition members having been conducting airstrikes against IS targets since September.
