U.S. ignores Russia's warning to continue airstrikes in Syria

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the United States would continue to lead coalition air campaign against the Islamic State (IS) despite Russia's warning to avoid Syrian airspace as Russia began its first air strike.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said a Russian official informed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad prior to Russia's first ever air strikes in Syria against the IS and warned the United States to avoid Syrian airspace.

"The U.S.-led coalition will continue to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as planned and in support of our international mission to degrade and destroy ISIL," Kirby said in the statement, referring to the group by another acronym.

Citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, CNN reported that the Pentagon was "taken aback" by Russia's air strikes in Syria.

Russia's first round of air strikes came just hours after the Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the U.S. military was to "open lines of communication with Russia" to de-conflict air operations in Syria.

"We expect the details of those conversations, including the exact timing of those conversations, will be worked out in the coming day," said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the United States carried out an air strike on Wednesday against the IS targets in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo, local media reported. Endit