He said the agreement does not include cooperation or sharing information.
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The Syrian army, backed by fighters from Iran and Lebanon’s Hizbollah, have launched a series of ground offensives against insurgent-held areas of western and north-western Syria since Russian Federation began air strikes in the country on Sept 30.
Anatoly I. Antonov, Russia’s deputy defense minister, said in a statement that “The memorandum contains a set of rules and restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between the Russian and United States aviation”.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the Iraqis had promised they would not request any Russian airstrikes or support for the fight against ISIS. Coalition members include Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
“We’re not able at this time to associate ourselves more broadly with Russia’s approach in Syria because it is wrong-headed and strategically short-sighted”, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said last week.
“Many people are living with host families and in the informal settlements in areas west of the city”, said Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in an emailed statement. But critics, including the US, say the Moscow military intervention helps props up Assad and is likely to fan the violence.
The Pentagon and Russian military have agreed on a list of rules created to ensure the two countries’ pilots will not mistakenly run into – or fire upon – one another as they conduct daily bombing runs in the skies above Syria.
U.S. Central Command on Tuesday reported conducting two airstrikes in Syria the previous day, attacking an IS headquarters building in Raqqa and a mortar system used by the militants in Tal Jibbin.
“People urgently need food and basic household and shelter items”, she said.
Dozens were also wounded Monday, in a few of the deadliest raids yet, and the commander of a moderate rebel brigade was among the dead, the Observatory said. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict, told Reuters that his sources in the area had confirmed the deaths of Russians, but did not have a figure.
While Moscow coordinates its flights with Damascus, “the rest of the manned and unmanned military aircraft are [flying] in Syrian airspace without coordination and with turned off transponders”, Konashenkov said, adding that “unfortunately, our American colleagues do not seem to grasp the seriousness of this issue”.
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FSA groups, often led by former Syrian army officers, have widely been eclipsed by jihadists including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State.
