Pentagon: US, Russia cooperate over US SOF in Syria

The move marks a step up in U.S.-Russian military coordination in Syria, which the United States had previously said was limited to an agreement to avoid accidents in the air as both countries undertake bombing campaigns there.

Cook said the interaction occurred between the Pentagon and the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was “aware of this”.

While the administration signaled the number of commandos could grow, the idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin, and possibly Assad himself, know where they are located may spark waves of new attacks on Obama for potentially putting US troops in harm’s way.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. “This was a unilateral request” by the U.S. “It was done out of an abundance of safety for our special operators”. “Typically, we don’t fly there anyway”.

Cook said the Russians requested that the full agreement, which covers all types of manned and unmanned aircraft over Syria, not be shared publicly.

Asked several times why the Pentagon has been insisting that there was no cooperation with Russian Federation – apart from the “deconfliction” Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to avoid any incidents in the air – Cook repeated that the decision was taken “to maintain the safety of our special operators on the ground”.

The disclosure by Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., commander of air operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, suggests a thaw in the communications freeze between the US and Russian militaries, which are backing opposing sides in Syria.

“I think that Secretary Kerry is discussing the overall Syria situation”. “We don’t want them to strike there because all it’s going to do is escalate things”.

The White House announced at the end of October that it would deploy a small group of less than 50 special operations forces to Syria to work with opposition forces targeting ISIS there. He said the Russians have honored the US request.

Russian and Iranian military involvement in Syria’s six-year civil war is reinvigorating the Syrian government’s fightback, bringing swift gains for Assad in recent weeks and putting full encirclement of the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, a major symbol of the uprising, within sight.

The Pentagon has insisted since the Russians first actions in eastern Ukraine in early 2014 that it has suspended military-to-military cooperation with Russia.

The general specifically cited the concentrated efforts against the oil refining and distribution facilities that were a major source of ISIL’s funding and the buildings where they store cash to pay their fighters and finance their operations.