Baghdad-based USA military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said that Russia had established some sort of forward operating base outside Palmyra, the ancient city Syrian forces recaptured in March from Islamic State jihadists with the help of Russian air strikes and special forces.
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There is no agreement between the United States and Russian Federation to conduct joint air strikes in Syria, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, adding that it looked to Russian Federation to stop truce violations by the Syrian government.
The Pentagon said it had not been formally presented a proposal by the Russian defense ministry and stressed that it was not collaborating with Russia.
He also proposed that joint strikes be made against “convoys containing weapons and ammunition, armed units that illegally cross the Syrian-Turkish border”.
More so, the United States discontinued its military-to-military relations with Russian Federation, including any joint exercises or port calls, in 2014, following Russia’s takeover of Crimea from the Ukraine, he said.
However, Assad’s forces violated the deal with airstrikes and ground attacks.
“Russian operations are supporting and enabling the Assad regime and our focus is exclusively on degrading and defeating [ISIS]”, Davis said.
The U.S. has said it would be willing to work with Russian Federation if the country’s efforts in Syria were focused against ISIS, and not in coordination with the Syrian regime under Bashar al Assad. Terror groups including al Nusra Front and ISIS are not party to it.
Shoigu said the Russian proposal should help secure the cease-fire, adding that Moscow has coordinated it with Damascus. He claimed that the Russian military has started discussing the idea with the USA representatives.
Meanwhile in Syria, rebels and pro-government forces fought on several fronts on Friday after the Syrian army, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, managed to seize valuable territory around the capital, Damascus.
Airstrikes on a rebel-held village in the northwest Idlib province killed at least eight civilians, according to the Local Coordination Committees group.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press conference with Laos Prime Minister following the Russia-ASEAN summit in Sochi on May 20, 2016. The Observatory said both sides suffered casualties in the fighting.
