US and Russian generals have met to discuss Syria operations, an American officer said Thursday, amid back-and-forth allegations that each side had struck the other's allied ground forces.
Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, said the officers this week met face-to-face "in the region" to exchange information about Deir Ezzor province, where US-backed local forces are operating ever closer to Russian-backed Syrian regime troops.
"The discussions emphasized the need to share operational graphics and locations to ensure… prevention of accidental targeting or other possible frictions that would distract from the defeat of ISIS," Dillon said, using an alternate acronym for IS.
Russia on Thursday warned the United States of reprisals after artillery fire from an area controlled by the US-backed fighters — known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — in eastern Syria allegedly targeted government troops.
That incident came just days after the coalition and the SDF accused Russian warplanes of bombing SDF fighters east of the Euphrates river, an allegation that Moscow denied.
The high-level military meeting reflects the ever-tightening pressure on IS in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region and near the city of Deir Ezzor itself, where regime forces are fighting IS.
Russian and coalition officials have for nearly two years been exchanging limited information over a so-called "deconfliction" hotline to avoid mishaps in Syria's crowded skies and warn of strikes that might be near each other's ground forces, but this was the first in-person meeting of commanders.
A longtime ally of Syria, Russia stepped into the multi-front conflict in September 2015 and shifted the balance of power in favor of President Bashar al-Assad with extensive air support and other aid.
Air strikes kill 22 in northwest Syria in 48 hours: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Sept 21, 2017 –
At least 22 civilians have been killed in 48 hours of heavy air strikes by Syria's regime and its ally Russia in northwestern Syria, a monitor said Thursday.
The strikes hit areas in the provinces of Idlib and Hama, where an internationally agreed truce zone is meant to be in place, and come in response to an offensive launched Tuesday by jihadists.
Idlib, along with parts of neighbouring Hama and Latakia provinces, forms one of four so-called de-escalation zones agreed last May by regime allies Russia and Iran and rebel backer Turkey.
The agreement has brought relative calm to the regions involved, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported dozens of raids on Hama and Idlib since Tuesday, when jihadists began attacking government positions.
"The Russian and regime aircraft are practically not leaving the sky over Idlib and Hama," the Britain-based monitor said.
On Thursday, at least four people including a father and his two daughters were killed in Russian raids on the town of Khan Sheikun in Idlib, the monitor said, raising the civilian death toll in 48 hours of strikes to 22.
Dozens more have been injured, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.
Jihadist factions led by a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, which are not included in the de-escalation deal, launched a fierce assault on Tuesday on a string of government-held villages along the border between Idlib and Hama.
The fighting erupted just days after Iran, Russia and Turkey announced they would jointly police the safe zone in Idlib, Hama, and Latakia provinces.
Russia has already deployed military police to the other three safe zones — Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, parts of the south and some areas of the central province of Homs.
The de-escalation agreement excludes the jihadists of the Islamic State group and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance dominated by Al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate.
More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Jihadist assault prompts air strikes in Syria safe zone: monitor
A jihadist offensive in a region of northwestern Syria where a safe zone deal had brought months of calm prompted heavy government and Russian air strikes Tuesday, including on a hospital, a monitor said.
Idlib province and some adjacent areas form one of four so-called de-escalation zones agreed in May by rebel backer Turkey and government allies Russia and Iran.
Front lines across the … read more
