Oslo, Norway • The Pentagon is taking additional steps to ensure that U.S. and Russian battlefield commanders are able to directly communicate with one another after an airstrike on U.S. proxy forces near Deir al-Zour, Syria, that wounded several fighters Saturday, the United States’ highest-ranking military officer said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, told a small group of reporters Sunday that deconfliction between the United States and Russia “didn’t work” when Syrian and Russian aircraft bombed U.S.-backed Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State east of the Euphrates River.
Russia has denied participating in the strike, despite a U.