Shortly after those comments, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Ash Carter had a “constructive conversation” with Sergei Shoygu, the Russian defense minister, on the situation in Syria.
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“The president believes that military-to-military conversation is an important next step and I think hopefully it will take place very shortly”, Kerry said after talks with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed.
Tension has been building for weeks over what USA officials and media reports say is a rapid Russian military deployment in Syria, where Moscow’s ally Assad has been losing territory to Islamic State (IS) militants and other foes.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in London on Friday for talks on Syria and on the refugees from the four-year conflict fleeing to Europe.
Kerry said Lavrov had told him that Russian Federation was only interested in confronting the threat posed by the Islamic State group in Syria.
One USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said four tactical Russian fighter jets were sent to Syria.
Quoted by Russian news agencies on September 18, Dmitry Peskov said that, if such a request is made, it will be “discussed and considered”, but he insisted the question is purely hypothetical at this stage.
In Washington, Cook said: “They agreed to further discuss mechanisms for deconfliction in Syria and the counter-ISIL campaign”. Defeating the Islamic State and ensuring a political transition should be pursued at the same time, Carter said.
The developments came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported dozens of Syrian airstrikes Thursday and Friday on Islamic State targets in Palmyra and the group’s capital, Raqqa.
Russia’s latest deployment has added significant airpower to a buildup that, according to U.S. estimates, also includes helicopter gunships, artillery and as many 500 Russian naval infantry forces at an airfield near Latakia.
“We give technical-military support to Damascus and will continue doing it,” Putin said.
The Russian leader is expected to use his speech at the United Nations General Assembly later this month to push for a diplomatic solution to the conflict that allows Russia to retain its bulwark of influence in the Middle East.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.
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“There are modern weapons that the regime didn’t previously have, be they rocket launchers or air to ground to missiles”, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory. Over the last week, the Syrian air force launched heavy air strikes on the IS-held city of Raqqa, an important base of operations for IS in Syria, which is often targeted by the US-led coalition.
