US official says Russia keeps violating safe air protocols in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Russia’s military forces in Syria have stopped adhering to agreed-upon de-confliction protocols with the US and US-led Global Coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS), a US military official told al-Arabiya.
Al-Arabiya said, citing US Air Forces Central (AFCENT) spokesperson as saying, “The Russian military recently departed from the standards expected of a professional Air Force, choosing instead to deliberately violate these agreements.”
The US and Russia agreed in 2019 to split the airspace over Syria and to not fly over each other’s positions. Recently, Lt Gen Alexus Grynkewich, combined forces air component commander for US Central Command, said recent Russian overflights are a violation of this understanding.
Grynkewich said in March that the Russian military jets have flown over US positions in al-Tanf, on Syria’s tri-border area with Jordan and Iraq, 25 times in March. In January, that figure was 14.
Russia’s “aircraft operate in an unsafe and unprofessional manner, executing aggressive maneuvers and committing non-de-conflicted incursions into our operating areas with increasing frequency,” according to the AFCENT official.
He also said that the coalition uses radar, on-board systems and sensors to avoid collision and maintain awareness of Russia’s fighter jets.
The official stressed that the US forces maintain a de-escalatory posture to not activate any weapons to Russian aircraft, and emphasized that Russia’s claims about the US violations of the Russian airspace are false and inflammatory.