Russia, US to improve coordination in Syria

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, third left, visits the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, on Saturday. (AP)

MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it had reached an agreement with the United States to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides of a civil war and launching airstrikes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it was pushing Washington to help produce a shared map of the positions of fighting forces to avoid incidents, a day after Washington accused Moscow of attacking US-backed insurgents there.
The Russian military on Sunday rejected the Pentagon’s accusations that it had deliberately targeted US-backed Syrian opposition forces, arguing the US had failed to warn about their locations.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said the area targeted in the strike was more than 300 kilometers away from locations earlier designated by the US as controlled by legitimate opposition forces.
The Pentagon said it held a video conference Saturday with the Russian military to discuss Russian airstrikes Thursday on the At-Tanf border garrison, which targeted Syrian opposition forces fighting the Daesh group. “Russia’s continued strikes at At-Tanf, even after US attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of ongoing coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for US and coalition forces,” it said in a statement.
Konashenkov retorted that the Russian military had warned the US in advance about the planned strike, but the Pentagon had failed to provide coordinates of legitimate opposition forces, “making it impossible to take measures to adjust the Russian air force action.”
He added that the Russian military had proposed months ago to share information about locations of various forces involved in military action in Syria to create a comprehensive map, but the Pentagon hasn’t been forthcoming.
On a conciliatory note, he added that Saturday’s video conference with the Pentagon was “constructive,” reflecting a shared desire “to improve coordination in fighting terrorist organizations in Syria and avoid incidents while conducting military operations there.”