Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, says the United States and Russia should be working together to fight the Islamic State (known as ISIS or ISIL) and that the likely bombing of a Russian airliner should be a wakeup call to both countries.
"I have said before and I really believe it. 'We will fight them now or we will fight them later. It's only a question of time,'" Feinstein said Sunday on
"Meet the Press."
While Russia now has a military presence in Syria and claims to be fighting ISIS, most of its air attacks actually have been on the more moderate Free Syrian Rebels aligned with the United States against the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, Feinstein noted.
"My hope is that Russia will take a strong stance against ISIL and they are not now so doing," she said.
Feinstein said she is encouraged that the United States appears now to be sharing intelligence with Russia, which it previously had not being doing since the two are backing rival factions in Syria.
"My understanding is that we weren't for a while but I have now heard that we are," she said. "I hope that's true."
Feinstein said the 50 special ops forces President Barack Obama is sending into Syria will not be adequate to do the job, especially since airstrikes alone are not doing the job.
"This isn't just one facility. It's not one building in Raqqa or somewhere else," she said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.