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![Sukhoi-24 fighters, such as the one above, have flown hundreds of sorties over Syria and destroyed a number of Islamist rebel bunkers, the Russian military said. But on Saturday, American and Russian fighter jets flew in the same battle zone [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/136104279_8-e1443729774516.jpg)
Sukhoi-24 fighters, such as the one above, have flown hundreds of sorties over Syria and destroyed a number of Islamist rebel bunkers, the Russian military said. But on Saturday, American and Russian fighter jets flew in the same battle zone [Xinhua]
According to the US Department of Defense, that almost happened when American and Russian jets flew within 16 kilometers of each other last weekend.
While the two aircraft were within visual contact and there was no risk of a mid-air collision at the time, a US military spokesperson said that both fighters were operating in the same battle zone.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said that he would conduct a video conference with his Russian counterparts on Wednesday and expected an agreement on air safety to be reached between Moscow and Washington.
He said that despite differences between the two countries, he was concerned about the safety of airmen over Syrian skies.
This marks the third time the two powers meet on air safety in Syria.
However, Carter added that the US continues to maintain that Russia’s strategy in Syria is “wrongheaded and strategically short-sighted.”
Russia began its aerial bombardment campaign against Islamist extremist forces in Syria on September 30 and says it has destroyed munition dumps and a large number of heavy vehicles belong to the Islamic State and other militia groups.
The Russian air strikes have weakened the militia groups fighting to depose the government of President Bashar Al Assad; the Syrian military has made considerable gains against these rebel groups in the past 10 days.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that it had forwarded a set of air safety draft proposals to the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized Washington’s Syria strategy during his interview with local media.
“We have very few specifics which could explain what the US is exactly doing in Syria and why the results of so many combat sorties are so insignificant,” he said in remarks carried by Russian news wires.
“With, as far as I know, 25,000 sorties they [US-led coalition] could have smashed Syria into smithereens,” Lavrov told Russian news network NTV.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
