International security

To avoid endless war in Syria, US deconflicts with Russia – Pentagon

The US has “a very active deconfliction line” with Russia in order to not “get drawn into a fight” in Syria, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said.

Mattis touched upon the ongoing operation in Syria at a press briefing on Tuesday. He said that while the US has coordinated with various “converging forces,” it has to maintain high-level interactions with Russia to keep moving against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“We deconflict with the Russians; it’s a very active deconfliction line,”Mattis said. “It’s on several levels, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary of state with their counterparts in Moscow, General Gerasimov and Minister Lavrov.”

“So we just refuse to get drawn into a fight there in the Syria civil war,” the secretary of defense said, adding that the conflict can be ended “through diplomatic engagement.”

Mattis added that while US forces open fire only on Islamic State enemies, they will fire back “under legitimate self-defense” if somebody “takes a heading on us or fires on us.”