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<\/div>\nRussian military convoy and their US counterparts exchange greetings in Syria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Qahtaniyah, Syria: <\/b><\/p>\n
US and Russian troops exchanged friendly greetings and posed for pictures together over the weekend on a northeast Syria highway in a rare display of congeniality between the rival forces.<\/p>\n
Both Washington and Moscow have troops on the ground in Syria backing opposing sides of the war that has ravaged the Middle Eastern country since 2011.<\/p>\n
Russia’s war in Ukraine since February has exacerbated geopolitical tensions with the United States.<\/p>\n
But on Saturday morning, US and Russian patrol routes intersected at an oil field near the town of Qahtaniyah in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, according to AFP correspondents.<\/p>\n
It was not the first time they cross paths in the Kurdish-held region but, instead of just zipping past each other, the convoys stopped and soldiers stood side by side as they spoke and posed for pictures.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSeveral troops even exchanged small patches worn on their uniforms as momentos of the interaction, the correspondents said.<\/p>\n
It was a “very rare moment”, said Syria expert Samuel Ramani, and a sign “that Russia and the US still want deconfliction in Syria”.<\/p>\n
A staunch opponent of the Syrian regime, Washington first deployed troops in northeast Syria in 2014 as part of a coalition to combat the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n
The Russian military, for its part, has backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad since 2015, but did not deploy forces in the northeast until 2019, following a Turkish invasion against Kurdish fighters.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDeconfliction channels have been in place since 2015 to prevent any clash between the Russians and the Americans.<\/p>\n
The presence of Russian troops has also helped US forces avoid a face-off with Syrian regime forces.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n