The U.S. military said on June 23 that a crisis hotline with Russia set up to avoid accidental clashes in Syria is still being used, despite Moscow’s threat earlier this week to suspend it.
“The deconfliction line is open and it is in use,” said Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The remarks were the latest indication of an easing of tensions in the wake of last weekend’s U.S. shootdown of a Syrian government jet as it dropped bombs on U.S.-backed forces in Syria.
After the incident, Russia had warned it would treat coalition aircraft flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft.
Despite that warning, officials said Russia used the line to notify the U.S. military on June 23 about a “surprise mass missile strike” against Islamic States targets using cruise missiles fired from Russian ships in the Mediterranean.