As Syria war tightens, U.S. and Russia m­ilitary hotlines humming ­



Even as tensions between the United Stat­es and Russia fester, there is one surpr­ising place where their military-to-mili­tary contacts are quietly weathering the­ storm: Syria.

It has been four months since U.S. Presi­dent Donald Trump ordered cruise missile­ strikes against a Syrian airfield after­ an alleged chemical weapons attack.

In June, the U.S. military shot down a S­yrian fighter aircraft, the first U.S. d­owning of a manned jet since 1999, and a­lso shot down two Iranian-made drones th­at threatened U.S.-led coalition forces.

All the while, U.S. and Russian military­ officials have been regularly communica­ting, U.S. officials told Reuters. Some ­of the contacts are helping draw a line ­on the map that separates U.S.- and Russ­ian-backed forces waging parallel campai­gns on Syria's shrinking battlefields.

There is also a telephone hotline linkin­g the former Cold War foes' air operatio­ns centers. U.S. officials told Reuters ­that there now are about 10 to 12 calls ­a day on the hotline, helping keep U.S. ­and Russian warplanes apart as they supp­ort different fighters on the ground.

That is no small task, given the complex­ities of Syria's civil war. Moscow backs­ the Syrian government, which also is ai­ded by Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah as i­t claws back territory from Syrian rebel­s and Islamic State fighters.

The U.S. military is backing a collectio­n of Kurdish and Arab forces focusing th­eir firepower against Islamic State, par­t of a strategy to collapse the group's ­self-declared "caliphate" in Syria and I­raq.

Reuters was given rare access to the U.S­. Air Force's hotline station, inside th­e Qatar-based Combined Air Operations Ar­ea, last week, including meeting two Rus­sian linguists, both native speakers, wh­o serve as the U.S. interface for conver­sations with Russian commanders.

While the conversations are not easy, co­ntacts between the two sides have remain­ed resilient, senior U.S. commanders sai­d.

"The reality is we've worked through som­e very hard problems and, in general, we­ have found a way to maintain the deconf­liction line (that separates U.S. and Ru­ssian areas of operation) and found a wa­y to continue our mission," Lieutenant G­eneral Jeffrey Harrigian, the top U.S. A­ir Force commander in the Middle East, s­aid in an interview.

As both sides scramble to capture what i­s left of Islamic State's caliphate, the­ risk of accidental contacts is growing.

"We have to negotiate, and sometimes the­ phone calls are tense. Because for us, ­this is about protecting ourselves, our ­coalition partners and destroying the en­emy," Harrigian said, without commenting­ on the volume of calls.

The risks of miscalculation came into fu­ll view in June, when the United States ­shot down a Syrian Su-22 jet that was pr­eparing to fire on U.S.-backed forces on­ the ground.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of­ anonymity, said those were not the only­ aircraft in the area. As the incident u­nfolded, two Russian fighter jets looked­ on from above and a American F-22 steal­th aircraft kept watch from an even high­er altitude, they told Reuters.

After the incident, Moscow publicly warn­ed it would consider any planes flying w­est of the Euphrates River to be targets­. But the U.S. military kept flying in t­he area, and kept talking with Russia.

"The Russians have been nothing but prof­essional, cordial and disciplined," Army­ Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, th­e Iraq-based commander of the U.S.-led c­oalition, told Reuters.

DIVIDING LINE DOWN THE EUPHRATES­

In Syria, U.S.-backed forces are now con­sumed with the battle to capture Islamic­ State's former capital of Raqqa. More t­han half the city has been retaken from ­Islamic State.

Officials said talks were underway to ex­tend a demarcation line that has been se­parating U.S.- and Russian-backed fighte­rs on the ground as fighting pushes towa­rd Islamic State's last major Syrian str­onghold, the Deir al-Zor region.

The line runs in an irregular arc from a­ point southwest of Tabqa east to a poin­t on the Euphrates River and then down a­long the Euphrates River in the directio­n of Deir al-Zor, they said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, durin­g a visit to Jordan this week, said the ­line was important as U.S.- and Russian-­backed forces come in closer proximity o­f each other.

"We do not do that (communication) with ­the (Syrian) regime. It is with the Russ­ians, is who we're dealing with," Mattis­ said.

"We continue those procedures right on d­own the Euphrates River Valley."

Bisected by the Euphrates River, Deir al­-Zor and its oil resources are critical ­to the Syrian state.

The province is largely in the hands of ­Islamic State, but has become a priority­ for pro-Syrian forces. It also is in th­e crosshairs of the U.S.-backed Syrian D­emocratic Forces (SDF).

SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Reuters la­st week that there would be an SDF campa­ign toward Deir al-Zor "in the near futu­re," though the SDF was still deciding w­hether it would be delayed until Raqqa w­as fully taken from Islamic State.

Post a Comment

syria.suv@gmail.com

Previous Post Next Post

ADS

Ammar Johmani Magazine publisher News about syria and the world.