Col. Ryan Dillon told reporters that on the ground in Syria, American and Russian special operations teams still do not communicate with each other directly. Dillon is pictured here at an August press conference in Baghdad. | Karim Kadim/AP Photo U.S., Russian forces in Syria open second communication line for ground forces

The American and Russian military commands operating in Syria have opened a new communication channel for ground forces, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

In addition to a longstanding phone line that U.S. and Russian air forces use to “deconflict” their operations over Syria, a new link has been in operation between the top U.S. and Russian ground commanders in the region for “over a month now,” coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon told reporters.


U.S. and Russian military leaders also met face-to-face earlier this week at a location Dillon would not disclose — the first such meeting that has taken place.

The military is at pains to use the word “deconfliction” to describe both lines, since “cooperation” and “coordination” with the Russian military are forbidden under U.S. law.

On the ground in Syria, American and Russian special operations teams still do not communicate with each other directly, even though they are in close proximity as the often-competing Syrian forces they support close in on remaining Islamic State strongholds. There are no “tactical level engagements on the ground with their counterparts,” Dillon said of the U.S. special operations teams. “It’s at a higher level than that.”

Earlier this year, after a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian Air Force base to punish the regime of Bashar Assad for a chemical weapon attack, Russia said it was cutting off communication with American forces in Syria.

But U.S. officials have insisted that the links have been maintained since the initial phone line was set up in 2015.

