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Kerry, Lavrov discuss deconfliction in Syria

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call Thursday, discussed deconfliction of the two countries' operations against Islamic States (IS) in Syria.

Kerry and Lavrov "talked about the importance of moving forward towards on tactical discussions and dialogue towards the goal of de-confliction, again to avoid mishaps and misunderstandings, particularly in the air," State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing.

However, there were "no tactical level decisions" made during the 30-minute phone call, Kirby added.

Talking about whether the Washington-Moscow talks on Syria will moving forward, Kirby said that "I don't think we're at the point where there are hard and fast modalities as to what the process will look like."

"The secretary repeated our concerns about the preponderance of targets that are being struck by Russian military forces that are not ISIL-related," Kirby said, using another acronym for the militant group in Syria.

Skeptical about Russia's intention in Syria, Kerry said last week that "we would have grave concerns should Russia strike areas where ISIL and al-Qaida-affiliated targets are not operating."

Russia insisted that its military operations in Syria only targeted terrorists.

The two also talked on Ukraine issues during the phone talks.

Kerry "again raised the Minsk agreement and the importance of moving forward on full implementation of the Minsk agreement", Kirby said.

Kirby said he could not confirm reports that Russian missiles had crashed in Iran.

"I've seen those reports but I'am not in a position to confirm them at this time," he said. Endit