U.S., Russian defense chiefs hold 1st talk on Syria in a year

U.S., Russia defense chiefs on Friday held their first talk in over a year to discuss "deconfliction" in Syria, said the Pentagon.

"They agreed to further discuss mechanisms for deconfliction in Syria and the counter-ISIL campaign," the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to another acronym of the extremist group the Islamic State (IS).

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that "the course of the conversation has shown that the sides' opinions on the majority of issues under consideration are close or coincide."

Both sides said they agreed to continue dialogues.

The 50-minute talk marked the first time that U.S. defence chief Ash Carter and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoygu have spoken to each other in over one year amid escalating tensions between the two countries on the crisis in Ukraine.

It also came at a time when the United States was scrambling to come up with a response to the recent Russian buildup in Syria, which the Pentagon said earlier showed Russia's intention to create an air base in Syria.

While the U.S. strategy against the IS is controlling a vast area of lands in both Syria and Iraq, Russia has been calling for a broad coalition, including with the Syrian government, to fight against the group.

Also on Friday, a Kremlin spokesperson said Russia would consider sending troops to Syria if it receives a request from Damascus.

"If there is a request, then in the framework of bilateral contracts, it will be discussed and considered," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

So far, Moscow has already sent soldiers and military experts along with military equipment flown to Syria's coastal province of Latakia over the past week, saying the personnel were for training purpose. Endit