US ask Russia not to bomb near commandos in Syria

US officials ask Russia to avoid bombing broad areas of northern Syria, where several dozen US special operation forces have been working with Syrians fighting the Islamic State group, the Pentagon discloses.

The request, which had not been revealed previously, goes beyond what the Pentagon calls its “memorandum of understanding” with the Russians to avoid inadvertent military air collisions over Syria.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook says the Russians were not told exactly where the US special operations troops are operating but were asked to avoid certain broad areas as a safety measure. He says the Russians have honored the US request.

“We’ve told them these are areas that we have coalition forces in — general areas where we have coalition forces,” Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown tells reporters at the Pentagon in an interview from his headquarters in Qatar. “We don’t want them to strike there because all it’s going to do is escalate things. And I don’t think the Russians want to escalate against the coalition.”

Brown is commander of US Air Forces Central Command, responsible for US air operations across the greater Middle East.

— AP