www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/09/262621.htm
QUESTION: In that interview with the BBC, Foreign Secretary – Foreign Minister Lavrov said what the Russians have been saying for a number of days now, which is that accusing the United States of having failed to disentangle the Nusrah from the opposition that you support.
MR TONER: Yeah. ...
Once we felt that we were at that point, to the best of an agreed-upon ability to reach that point, then we would say, okay, we’re ready to move on to the next phase. At that point, as I said, then it’s – the moderate opposition who are integrated with al-Nusrah would have had a choice to make.
QUESTION: So in other words, are they making a fair point here --
MR TONER: So --
QUESTION: -- the Russians? That they say you failed to do the disentangling?
MR TONER: No, because there wasn’t enough time. ...
...
QUESTION: What – just a final question: And again, with the regards to the Russian suspicions, you haven’t really gone after Nusrah that much. Have you been holding back on going after Nusrah because they were mixed with the opposition? I mean, all we hear about is the strikes on ISIS.
MR TONER: Yeah, so --
QUESTION: We don’t hear about strikes on Nusrah.
MR TONER: So --
...
[Second, different question-answer exchange]
...
MR TONER: [...] In answer to your first question, which was, again, about?
QUESTION: We keep hearing about --
MR TONER: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- striking ISIS, but never --
MR TONER: Oh.
QUESTION: -- about striking Nusrah.
MR TONER: We did carry out strikes initially, back in 2014-2015, against Nusrah. But absolutely, you’re correct in that, as they became intermingled and as they became intermingled in civilian areas, we’ve always sought to limit the possibility of civilian casualties in any of our airstrikes. ...
...
QUESTION: Could I just ask a follow-up?
MR TONER: Of course. I’ll get to you.
QUESTION: You hit Nusrah – I believe you described it as al-Qaida – maybe in March --
MR TONER: Affiliate, yeah.
QUESTION: -- or something or – it was earlier this year.
MR TONER: Yep.
QUESTION: Since then, there hasn’t been any specific action against Nusrah, is that right? Military action.
MR TONER: No, but I’d have to double check.
QUESTION: Okay.
...
QUESTION: Why aren’t you attacking Nusrah anyhow if it’s in U.S. interest?
MR TONER: That’s what I was saying, is – but I – and I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear --
QUESTION: No, no. I understand what you’re saying, but how would that change by cooperating with Russia? You still wouldn’t attack civilian populations, buildings --
MR TONER: No, but I – but what we, again – and I’m – I would really encourage you to talk to someone at the Pentagon who can give you a much more detailed tactical view of this. ...
...
QUESTION: If you had actionable intelligence against Nusrah senior leaders, as you describe them, would you --
MR TONER: Would we --
QUESTION: -- be able to target them today or not? Because Aleppo and Idlib and a lot of these areas --
MR TONER: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- are out of your – are they in the confliction zone?
MR TONER: I would – I don’t want to – so I would encourage you to talk to somebody --
QUESTION: Okay.
MR TONER: -- from the Department of Defense, whether we would be able to – through our de-confliction mechanism be able to target them.
QUESTION: Okay.