Putin, Obama Need Syrian Airspace Cooperation to Avoid Accidents

Nicolas Dhuicq, a member of the Defense Commission at the French National Assembly, said that defining areas of responsibility between the Russian-Syrian-Iran-Iraq group and the international coalition headed by the United States is necessary, as the airspace in the region can be crowded by up to 150 US aircraft simultaneously.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow and Washington need to agree on a deal to operate safely in Syrian airspace to avoid accidents, Nicolas Dhuicq, a member of the Defense Commission at the French National Assembly told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously approved the use of Russian armed forces to fight Islamic State (ISIL) jihadist group's targets in Syria. The decision followed a request for assistance from Syrian President Bashar Assad and concerns only Russian warplanes.

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin needs a sort of agreement with [US President Barack] Obama for security reasons, so that planes do not collide in midair. And some planning of the mission with, perhaps, flight zones," Dhuicq said.

According to Dhuicq, defining areas of responsibility between the Russian-Syrian-Iran-Iraq group and the international coalition headed by the United States is necessary, as the airspace in the region can be crowded by up to 150 US aircraft simultaneously.

Earlier in the day, a US defense official told Sputnik that the United States would not modify its military operations in Syria regardless of Moscow’s "demarche" of starting its own air operations against ISIL.

Since 2014, a US-led coalition, comprising over 60 states, has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria, without the approval of Damascus or the UN Security Council.