Obama Defends Syria Approach, Questions Putin Leadership in Recent Interview

U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria and the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent interview.

The interview, which aired Sunday with "60 Minutes" anchor Steve Kroft, touched on a series of current events, with the highlight being a tense conversation between Kroft and the Commader-in-Chief regarding the U.S. strategy in Syria.

Kroft questioned how the president's strategy, which includes a U.S.-led airstrike coalition aimed at weakening and ultimately defeating the Islamic State, has worked, suggesting that the death toll in Syria has gone up since the airstrike began.

The president responded by saying that the Islamic State terrorist group would be defeated "over time," adding that he made no guarantees that the terrorst group would be deteated within a year.

"Syria has been a difficult problem for the entire world community and, obviously, most importantly, for the people of Syria themselves that have been devastated by this civil war, caught between a brutal dictator who drops barrel bombs on his own population, and thinks that him clinging to power is more important than the fate of his country," the president said.

The Commander-in-Chief also touched on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has claimed to be targeting Islamic State strongholds in Syria but has been criticized for allegedly bombing the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead.

The president questioned Putin's leadership, saying: "My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change. [...] My definition of leadership is  mobilizing the entire world community to make sure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. And with respect to the Middle East, we've got a 60 country coalition that isn't suddenly lining up around Russia's strategy. To the contrary, they are arguing that, in fact, that strategy will not work."