There have been no significant conflict situations between the US and Russian military in eastern Syria, and very seldom miscommunication leads to increased communication, US Air Force Major General Kenneth Eckmann, deputy commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, told reporters Wednesday.
"In eastern Syria, there is always the risk of misunderstandings at the tactical level, at the soldier level. We haven't really had any significant opposition between our forces. We've been watching this very closely," he admitted.
That's how he answered the question of how often incidents between Russian and US military occur, such as blocking the movement of equipment on the roads or chasing patrols. A video recording of one such episode has recently appeared on the Russian Internet. There, a US patrol was chasing a Russian one, as a result of which Russian equipment blocked the movement of US equipment and a soldier sent a request to the Americans through an interpreter not to chase them anymore. In this regard, the major general stressed the importance of following conflict prevention protocols.
"What you probably call persecution is not absolutely professional behavior between Russians and Americans, it happens in rare cases. Most Russians follow the protocols in force ... And it's very rare that misunderstandings lead to heightened emotions," Ekman added.
According to him, in these rare cases, the American military acts according to the rule "solve the conflict and come back the next day".
"Russian and coalition forces are moving in the same places. The contact actually happens very often. In the air and on the ground. Frankly speaking, our forces are used to acting in close proximity to each other. The goal is to avoid conflicts and surprises," said the military.
So far, he said, conflict situations have been avoided.
"So it's not the number of incidents that worries us. Our goal is to comply with the protocols of conflict avoidance so that none of these contacts would lead to escalation. And for the most part, this is very successful," Ekman said.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: AP / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti