(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON, June 19 (KUNA) -- The Pentagon will resume "deconfliction" talks with Russia over the war in Syria "in the next few hours," the top US military general said Monday.
The move follows the US shooting down of a Syrian fighter jet over the weekend - something that was done in self-defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said at the National Press Club.
The US is using air strikes to back the Syrian Democratic Forces as they fight the so-called Islamic State (IS).
"An incident occurred, we have to work through the incident, we have a channel to be able to do that and I think it's going to require some diplomatic and military engagement in the next few hours to restore the deconfliction that we've had in place," Dunford said of the resumption of that specific communication with Moscow.
"We have an effective link between our operation center in Qatar and the Russian Federation on the ground in Syria," He added. "That link is still ongoing here this morning. When I left the (Pentagon) this morning we have still been communicating over the last few hours." The Combined Joint Task Force announce that the US military on Sunday shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet that bombed forces aligned with the coalition in the fight against IS.
It marked the first time that the US shot down a Syrian regime aircraft, said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. (end) ys.bs
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