US jets can’t fly over safe zones in Syria, says Russia

Russia announced on Friday that US air force jets will not be allowed to fly over the four Syrian safe zones which were agreed upon this week in Astana, Reuters has reported.

The Russian envoy to the peace talks in the Kazakhstan capital, Alexander Lavrentiev, added that the ban would also apply to US-led coalition aircraft. Furthermore, the Syrian air force of Bashar Al-Assad will stop its own flights over the zones in question.

The envoy explained that the four safe zones would be monitored, but noted that the monitors had not yet been identified. He said that Jordan is likely to be one of the monitors in the south of Syria.

However, a spokesman for the Pentagon said the plan would not impact America’s fight against Daesh. “The coalition will continue to target wherever they operate to ensure [the militants] have no sanctuary,” Marine Major Adrian JT Rankine-Galloway told journalists.