US and Russian militaries sharing increasing information on ISIL

WASHINGTON // US-Russian talks on the two countries’ separate fights against ISIL are becoming more productive and more frequent, US officials have said, with both sides trading information in real time and even outlining some of their strategic objectives in the months ahead.

The progress dispels the notion that ties between the former Cold War foes are “frozen”.

In the discussions, Russia has made clear its priority in Syria is retaking the ancient city of Palmyra, officials said. The United States, meanwhile, is determined to pressure ISIL’s headquarters in the city of Raqqa.

The closer contacts between the two countries have developed despite their bitter accusations against each other over the devastation in Aleppo and Moscow’s claim that relations are now “frozen on all practical levels”.

The confidential military discussions aren’t focusing on their opposing positions in Syria’s civil war, where Russia is fighting alongside the government and the US has backed rebel groups, officials said.

But the officials credited both sides with putting aside much of the public animosity, which has included Washington’s accusations of Russian war crimes in Aleppo and Moscow’s charges of American support for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.

Much of the talk has concerned the two nations’ immediate operations.

Since December 15, the US-led coalition has conducted air strikes on about two dozen locations around Palmyra, destroying air defence weapons, tanks, aircraft shelters, storage bunkers and other vehicles and equipment. At the same time, US and Russian officials have been ensuring that the two militaries don’t cross paths in the airspace above the city – which ISIL militants seized for the second time earlier this month – and that American strikes don’t mistakenly hit Russian or Syrian forces.

But the talks have gone beyond the granular and even touched on broader US and Russian plans, according to American officials.

The Russians have spelt out that after they retake Palmyra, they want to move on to ISIL militants congregated in Deir Ezzour, a city closer to the Iraqi border. Succeeding in Deir Ezzour, according to one official, could take Russia several months.

Palmyra became a more urgent mission after the extremists ended the Syrian government’s nine-month hold over the city, seizing Russian and Syrian military equipment and weapons in the process. These include dangerous air defence artillery that could be used against coalition and friendly forces.

The US and Russian militaries have been communicating regularly, often in real time as strikes are about to be launched to ensure innocent troops aren’t at risk.

The scope of the discussions suggests the two sides are pulling back from some of the extreme rhetoric in recent months, mainly coloured by Russia’s support for the successful Syrian military effort to retake all of Aleppo. While Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed hopes that Donald Trump will improve US-Russian cooperation, it appears some of the groundwork is already being done.

On Tuesday a US-backed alliance of militias made unexpectedly rapid gains against ISIL near Raqqa city, advancing to within a few kilometres of a major dam, its spokesman said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition monitoring group, said one of ISIL’s top commanders in Syria was probably killed in fighting near the dam on the Euphrates River some 50 kilometres west of Raqqa.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, launched the second phase of a campaign against ISIL 10 days ago. The campaign’s ultimate aim is to capture Raqqa.

The latest phase is targeting ISIL-held areas to the west of the city, including the dam near Tabqa. The first phase, launched in early November, targeted ISIL positions to the north.

“1,300 square km [captured from ISIL] in 10 days – we were expecting it to take longer, but the Daesh defences disintegrated,” spokesman Talal Silo said, adding that 15 SDF fighters had been killed in the latest advances.

The extremist group was deploying suicide car bombs in its efforts to fend off the assault, but these were being destroyed before reaching their targets thanks to anti-armour weapons recently supplied by the US-led coalition, Mr Silo said.

US special forces were working “side by side with our forces”, he added.

The Observatory identified the ISIL commander killed in the latest fighting as Abu Jandal Al Kuwaiti. Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said he was killed as the militants sought to recapture the village of Jabar, which the SDF captured on Monday. The counter-attack failed.

Meanwhile, Turkey said it had no confirmation of a video circulated by ISIL last week which purported to show two Turkish troops captured in Syria being burnt alive.

After users in Turkey reported problems using social media in the wake of the release of the video, deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said some media needed to “watch their step” in the face of attempts by terror groups to spread fear.

“There is still no clear information from our armed forces or defence ministry to confirm these video images,” Mr Kurtulmus said.

“If there is confirmed information, it will be shared with the public,” he said.

But he added that terror groups were “vile mechanisms” seeking to “spread desperation” through fear.

* Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse