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Russia, US work on agreement to coordinate air operations in Syria – Moscow
RT,
7
October, 2015
The
Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon are working on an agreement
to coordinate military flights in Syria, according to Russia’s
Defense Ministry.
“The
Russian Defense Ministry has responded to the Pentagon’s request
and promptly considered the American proposal on coordination of
actions in the framework of the fight against the terror group
ISIS,” Defense
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, as quoted by TASS.
He added that “in general, these proposals could be accepted for implementation.”
He added that “in general, these proposals could be accepted for implementation.”
The
General Staff “in
principle” supports
the agreement proposed by US colleagues, Russian Deputy Defense
Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday.
“
Unfortunately,
the US is reducing our coordination only to its technical aspects –
that is between our pilots during their missions,” he
said, following a meeting with Defense press attachés from several
countries including the US.
Antonov
said that a video conference between the US and Russian defense
ministries had taken place on October 1 to discuss the “safe use of
air forces” in Syria. A second is planned for the next few days.
“But
it would be better if our colleagues came to us and we discussed all
the problems eye to eye here, at the Defense Ministry
headquarters,” Antonov
said, adding that he hopes that during the second conference the
Pentagon will comment on Russia’s proposals.
#ISIS in Syria using mosques as shelters, civilians as shields – Russian Defense Ministryhttp://t.co/1IDIwEazo2pic.twitter.com/JCjk2UnLEN
— RT (@RT_com) October 6, 2015
On
Friday, US president Barack Obama said the US would not cooperate
with Russia in Syria as its actions are allegedly designed to “prop
up” Assad.
He added, however, that the US is not going “to
make Syria into a proxy war between the United States and Russia.”
Cooperation
with President Assad remains one of the main stumbling blocks between
Russia and the US. However, as geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser has
told RT, Washington’s reluctance to collaborate with Assad “makes
their strategy against ISIS absolutely untenable.”
“The
US has learned, unfortunately, through many examples of trial and
error in various wars that it has waged, that terrorism and
terrorists’ tactics such as these are almost impossible for
traditional military that has overwhelming air power, but is
unwilling to engage on the ground. We saw it in Iraq, we saw it in
Afghanistan,” Draitser said,
adding that, while this is not “unexpected,” it
does point to an important aspect of “the
failure” of
Western policy. “When
they say they are not willing to collaborate with Assad, it makes the
strategy against ISIS absolutely untenable and impossible.”
Moscow
launched its military operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly
ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups at the request of the Syrian
government on September 30 and has already targeted a number of IS
infrastructure units, hitting command centers, ammunition depots and
explosive production sites, among others military facilities.
From Reuters
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