The tenuous Syrian cease-fire appeared to be holding for another day, but U.S. commanders were facing increasingly pointed questions about a proposed command hub for a joint U.S.-Russian air campaign to fight the Islamic State and other jihadi targets.
The operations center is part of a military cooperation deal with Moscow drafted by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, but underlying mistrust between the two nations’ militaries, coupled with a series of operational and tactical hurdles, could scuttle the effort before it even gets off the ground.
Military officials in Washington and Moscow are already carrying out “prudent planning” on operational details for the center, U.S. Air Force Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian said Tuesday.
“We are still very early in the process when it comes to the agreement with the Russians. And I think the important key to remember right now is we will continue to do prudent planning with respect to any implementation,” he told reporters at the Pentagon during a briefing from Baghdad.
The deal, reached by Mr. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the weekend, potentially opens the door to intelligence-sharing on air operations by U.S. and Russian warplanes, as well as joint airstrikes against the Islamic State and other jihadi groups operating in Syria.
There have been fears in the Pentagon that the center could give Russian officials a close look at American operations and tactics, and that Moscow could use the bombing campaign to give a battlefield advantage to Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime Russian ally who President Obama insists must go.
Asked whether he trusts Russia enough to carry out joint operations with their forces, Gen. Harrigian replied: “I’m not going to tell you I trust them. … They need to do the right thing, [and] we’ll see what happens from there.”
The deal hinges on Russian forces maintaining the cease-fire in Syria for the next several days. The truce is intended to allow humanitarian aid to reach besieged cities, Gen. Harrigian and U.N. officials said.
Before the deal was reached Saturday, a standing agreement between Washington and Moscow to inform each other about air operations in Syria or Iraq was the only link between the two militaries. That pact was reached last October, after several near misses between Russian fighters and U.S. aircraft in the skies over Syria.
Russian jets have actively targeted opposition forces — including those trained and equipped by U.S. military advisers — fighting to overthrow Mr. Assad. Conversely, American bombers and fighters had focused their firepower on Raqqa and other areas controlled by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Moscow has drawn fire from human rights advocates over its bombing tactics in rebel strongholds in Aleppo, Homs and elsewhere in the country’s north. Critics say Russia’s indiscriminate use of non-precision munitions has resulted in massive civilian casualties in Syria.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura hailed a “significant drop in violence” over the first 24 hours of the cease-fire, according to The Associated Press, but said no U.N. aid trucks had moved across the Turkish border into Syria. He said U.N. officials were awaiting assurances that the drivers would be “unhindered and untouched.”
Gen. Harrigian repeatedly declined to discuss in detail the planning for the U.S.-Russian air operations.
“It would be very premature for me to get into any details on what those specifics are, because we’ve got to work our way through that,” he said. One thing that would not change would be U.S. commanders’ focus on limiting collateral damage from airstrikes in Syria, regardless of whether those operations are carried out with Russian forces.
“Our process won’t change,” he said.
⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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