Pentagon reports on dangerous encounter between Russian and US-led coalition aircraft in Syria
About six weeks ago a "close call" took place between planes of the Russian Air Force and the US-led international coalition. The military was able to resolve the situation, RIA Novosti reported, citing a high-ranking US Department of State representative.
"We had a couple close calls about six weeks ago which we were able to work through," said the senior State Department official in a statement. "We [also] had an incident in July where we shot down a Syrian plane which was violating arrangements we had put in place, and we worked through that.”
The State Department spokesman stressed that the mechanisms of avoiding conflicts in the sky over Syria "worked better than anyone anticipated." The official saw the reason for their effectiveness as the professionalism of Russian and American military personnel.
In addition, the US State Department official noted the growing importance of communication channels for avoiding conflicts in connection with the convergence of forces and defeats of the Islamic State terrorist group.