After weeks of airstrikes in Syria, Russian military officials on Tuesday alerted U.S. forces before launching attacks against targets in Raqqa, the city that Islamic State (ISIL) militants have declared their capital.
The United States and Russia have for weeks had a memorandum of understanding in place to spelling out mechanisms to “deconflict” the air over Syria, where warplanes from both nations are flying daily. Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook on Nov. 17 said the Russians had given U.S. forces a heads up before beginning their bombing sorties. U.S. aircraft were flying in the area last week in support of a Kurdish offensive aimed at severing ISIL’s supply route between Raqqa and Mosul.
“This is the first instance where the Russians provided advanced warning,” Cook said during a press conference Tuesday at the Pentagon. “There was enough warning that it afforded us the opportunity to, if we had aircraft in the area, that we could have made adjustments. That was not necessary in this situation.”
U.S. strikes planned for Monday and Tuesday were launched as planned even after the Russians notified officials of their plans, Cook said. The Pentagon reported six strikes by U.S. aircraft in Syria and 17 strikes in Iraq on Tuesday. A Nov. 16 strike reportedly by A-10 Warthogs and C-130 gunships destroyed a convoy of 116 ISIL fuel trucks.
“We have not adjusted our plans,” Cook said. “We will continue to operate at the same pace if not at a higher pace going forward.”
The Russian strikes in Raqqa mark a shift in focus toward hitting ISIL targets where previous Russian strikes have been largely against moderate rebels fighting to dethrone Syrian President Bashar Assad. Cook said it was a “good thing” that Russia is targeting ISIL, but neither the U.S. military nor other members of the coalition have plans to cooperate with Russia.
“Those strikes did, from our vantage point, seem to strike in ISIL-held territory,” Cook said. “But their policy of supporting the Assad regime continues to be counterproductive, backwards…The secretary [of defense] leaves the door open for Russia to play a constructive role” in defeating ISIL.
French military aircraft flying from Turkey over the weekend dropped at least 20 bombs on Raqqa in an immediate response to the terrorist attacks in Paris Friday evening. Cook said the multinational focus on the city is a strategic move on the group’s self-declared capital
“Raqqa is the center point of operations for ISIL, so it is surprising that it would be a target, not just for the coalition, but for anyone interested in going after ISIL,” Cook said.
While there are no plans to bring Russia into the coalition fold until Moscow abandons its support for Assad, the United States plans to “bolster” its intelligence-sharing activities with France as that country escalates its air war on ISIL as punishment for the Paris attacks.
“Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper have provided new instructions that will enable U.S. military personnel to more easily share operational planning information and intelligence with French counterparts on a range of shared challenges to the fullest extent allowed by existing law and policy,” Cook said in a statement. “This new guidance underscores the strength of the security partnership with France and builds on longstanding cooperation that will improve our ability to deter and defeat mutual enemies, particularly ISIL.”