美俄加強溝通避免在敘發生事故或誤判

The commander in charge of U.S. air operations in the Middle East says the United States and Russia have communicated more via an established military hotline as the air space around Islamic State territory in Syria has become more crowed.

"We have had to increase the amount of deconfliction work we are doing with the Russians, given the tighter airspace that we are now working ourselves through," Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian told reporters Wednesday.

The communication hotline was created between Russia and the U.S. several months ago to avoid potential mishaps and misunderstandings in the sky over Syria. Islamic State has been reduced from its peak of about 30,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria to current estimates of fewer than 15,000.

Harrigian confirmed the U.S. has established deconfliction zones around U.S. military personnel inside Syria, adding that Russian movement within these areas is restricted to protect American and U.S.-backed forces.負責美軍在中東地區空中行動的指揮官說，隨着伊斯蘭國所佔據地區周圍空域變得更加擁擠，美國和俄羅斯通過建立的軍事熱線進行了更多溝通。

美國空軍中將傑弗裏·哈利吉安星期三對記者說，“鑑於我們使用的空域趨緊，我們已經增加了與俄羅斯人之間消除衝突的空中熱線的使用數量。”

這條溝通熱線是俄羅斯和美國幾個月前設立的，以避免在敘利亞領空發生事故和誤判。伊斯蘭國已經從最高峯時在伊拉克和敘利亞的大約3萬名武裝人員，減少到目前估計的不足1萬5千人。

哈利吉安證實，美國已經在敘利亞境內美軍人員周圍建立了安全區。他補充說，俄羅斯在這些區域內的活動僅限於保護美軍和美國支持的武裝。