The Russian and US armies activated their communications days after their forces witnessed the most violent skirmish in months in Syria, when a vehicle collision in the eastern part of the war-torn country left American troops with injuries.
“The two sides activated communications through military channels with an aim of respecting the delicate protocols reached between them and to prevent any future collisions,” a Russian source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.
He said that despite a turning up of rhetoric and accusations between the two sides following the incident, Moscow kept its patrols in the agreed areas and informed the US about their itinerary.
“The current contacts between the two sides aim to prevent any escalation and to enhance coordination in the future,” the Russian source said.
On Tuesday, one US official said Russian vehicles sideswiped a light-armored US military vehicle outside of the Syrian town of Al-Malikiyah located near Syria’s northeastern triple border with Turkey and Iraq, injuring four Americans.
Russia blamed the US military for the incident.
Washington then accused the Russian armored vehicle of hitting a US Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle and of violating “de-confliction protocols” worked out between Washington and Moscow since 2015.
Following the incident, a telephone conversation was held between the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, and his US counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, to contain the dispute.
Government-owned Russian media outlets stressed that the Russian forces “had succeeded in sending a clear message to the US to prevent it from continuing to stop Russian patrols in the area.”
Meanwhile, a delegation from the Syrian Democratic Council is in Moscow for expected talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday on the latest developments in eastern Syria.
Separately, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Friday that a new air defense system will be sent to Syria to counter unmanned aerial vehicles by detecting and jamming the satellite “navigation system” channels.
