MOSCOW, May 20: Moscow on Friday proposed that Russia and United States, which have been flying separate bombing campaigns in Syria, launch joint air strikes against jihadists in the war-torn country from next week.
"We are proposing to the US, as the head of the International Syria Support Group, to take part as of May 25 in joint operations between the Russian air force and the air force of the coalition," Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said in televised comments.
Shoigu said that the proposal included strikes against Jabhat al-Nusra and other illegal armed groups that do not support a frail truce brokered by Moscow and Washington in February.
He also proposed that joint strikes be made against "convoys containing weapons and ammunition, armed units that illegally cross the Syrian-Turkish border."
Russia and the United States pledged earlier this month to redouble efforts to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions since 2011, and extend a truce across the war-torn country.
Despite diplomatic efforts to resolve the five-year conflict, Moscow and Washington have been critical of each other's bombing campaigns in Syria.    ?AFP