Pentagon admits to cooperation with Russian Federation in Syria

The U.S. with the approval of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has told Russia in general terms the top secret locations of American Special Forces advisor teams operating in Syria to protect them from Russian airstrikes, the top U.S. air commander in the region said Thursday.

Lieutenant General Charles Brown, the head of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, disclosed the request at a Thursday news briefing at the Pentagon.

Cook said Thursday that the only cooperation between the US and Russian militaries are via these two agreements, and that the USA has not agreed to any other requests from Russia regarding operations in Syria.

Cook said the Pentagon’s request to the Russians does not extend protection for Syrian rebels trained or otherwise backed by the U.S. Cook said the “highest levels” of leadership within the Pentagon had discussed the Special Operations Forces’ locations with the Russians but refrained from saying when those discussions had taken place. He would not say when the US request was made or who in the Pentagon made it.

“We are protecting the safety of USA troops in harm’s way”.

Though Russian airstrikes have been largely directed towards supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ground forces, some airstrikes have hit the Islamic State in areas where US aircraft are operating.

The U.S. and its allies have accused the Russians of bombing civilians and hospitals around the city of Aleppo in an effort to gain territory before a “cessation of hostilities” is scheduled to begin Friday. “Typically, we don’t fly there anyway”.

The U.S. and Russia are both carrying out airstrikes in Syria – the U.S. since the fall of 2014 as part of a coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the Russians since last September targeting what it calls “terrorist” groups, in a campaign of support for the Assad regime. “And I don’t think the Russians want to escalate against the coalition”. “And we don’t want them to strike there because all it’s going to do is escalate things”, Brown told reporters in a briefing from his office in Qatar.

The United States announced in October it would deploy dozens of special operators in northern Syria to “advise opposition forces” in their fight against the militant group, Daesh (ISIL).

Cook thanked Britain for offering its airbases to launch the attack, but declined to say which bases the United States had used.

The US is only believed to have an extremely limited number of ground troops in Syria at this point, and indications are they are in Hasakeh Province, embedded with the Kurdish YPG.