Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on an unannounced visit to Moscow, BBC News reports.
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Cook said that USA coalition ally aircraft will also fully understand the MOU.
“There’s a series of protocols in place that effectively are meant to avoid any sort of risk of a mid-air incident between our air crews and Russian air crews”, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
“Kirby says the US and Russian Federation are not coordinating their military operations in Syria”.
US officials say Russian airstrikes in Syria, which began at the end of last month, appear to be aimed at propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and pushing back against rebel advances in the northwestern part of the country. There is no specific language on how many feet or miles the two sides have to stay apart.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the steps it had hoped for included asking the United States to provide information about targets in Syria.
“Russians need to abide by these flight safety protocols that they’ve now agreed to, because we don’t want miscalculation and misunderstanding”, he said.
However, the administration has said it will not cooperate with Russian Federation while it attempts to eliminate moderate opposition forces and preserve Assad’s rule.
The figures in Tuesday’s report did not include an overnight Russian airstrikes in Syria’s Latakia province that killed a high-ranking commander of a Syrian rebel group that had received American-made weapons.
“The Russians are destroying all the fortifications before the attack on Jisr al-Shughour”, Mr Abdurrahman said, referring to a strategic north-western town that insurgents captured earlier this year.
However, he was quick to stress that the understanding did not signal broader agreement with Russia’s Syria strategy. “We can not permit them – once they get fighting experience and ideological training – to turn up in Russia”.
The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned three times but had maintained course.
Syrian troops advanced in their offensive to retake territory around the northern city of Aleppo Saturday, backed by Iranian troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
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Intelligence services later said that the attack bore the hallmarks of IS and on Wednesday said its chief suspect, “Ebu Ali”, had links to the group.
