US and Russian military officials hold talks on Syria
US and Russian military officials have held talks to discuss mechanisms in order to avoid accidental encounters between their forces in Syria, the Pentagon says.
"The discussions were professional and focused narrowly on the implementation of specific safety procedures," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said on Saturday.
"Progress was made during the talks and the US agreed to another discussion with Russia in the near future. The video conference lasted approximately 90 minutes,” he stated.
Cook added that the talks focused on "steps that can be taken" by Russian and US-led coalition aircraft "to promote safe flight operations over Syria."
The talks were about basic safety measures, including the language air crews can use in communication and how much space aircraft should leave each other.
US and Russian military officials have already met and discussed procedures to avoid mishaps between aircraft from the US-led coalition and Russian warplanes over Syria.
Syria’s airspace is growing crowded with more drones, fighter jets and helicopters flown by the so-called US-led coalition as well as Russia and Syria.
Tensions between the United States and Russia escalated after Moscow began its military campaign on September 30 against Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in Syria.
Russia has carried out more than 110 airstrikes against terrorists in Syria so far, killing hundreds of militants.
On Wednesday, Russia fired 26 long-range cruise missiles from its Caspian Flotilla against terrorists in Syria, Pentagon officials said.
A day after, the United States pulled the USS Theodore Roosevelt – a massive, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier – out of the Persian Gulf.
For the first time since 2007, the US Navy has now no aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, according to NBC News.
US military officials claimed that the aircraft carrier, which houses about 5,000 sailors and 65 fighter jets, was withdrawn because it needed to undergo maintenance.
Republican Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Thursday that Washington should "just leave" Syria "if all of your [US] actions are dictated by the risk of confrontation with Russia."
Tabas sand defeats US military
'US secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in recent weeks'
Russia says US facing humiliation in Ukraine like in Vietnam
VIDEO | Leader meets workers on Labor Week
French police called in to break up US-style pro-Palestinian student demo
VIDEO | US continues starving Syrians, stealing their resources
Yemeni forces strike Israeli ship, Port of Eilat in solidarity with Gaza
Columbia, Yale students bent on ending US support for Israeli genocide
VIDEO | Genocide in Gaza
Iran calls on BRICS to play role in stopping Israeli crimes
President Raeisi’s historic visit opens new chapter in Iran-Pakistan ties
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
