WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US-led coalition against the Islamic State, consisting of 62 nations, has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since September 2014, albeit without UN Security Council authorization or approval by the Syrian government.
"It would be a mistake to not deconflict the respective air operations," Bucci explained on Wednesday. "You do it by talking to each other."
US and Russian military officials might begin holding urgent discussions to deconflict air operations in Syria as soon as Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a joint press briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN on Wednesday evening.
The Kremlin noted that Putin made his request to the Russian parliament at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Following Russia’s decision, Kerry said that Washington would welcome Moscow’s contribution to fight the Islamic State if its military campaign was "genuine," and not aimed at only helping Assad.
Steven Bucci is Director of National Security Policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and a retired US Special Forces commander and previously served as a military assistant to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
