Russia works with US, rebels in Syria

Moscow Tuesday said it worked with opposition groups in its latest Syrian airstrikes while the US said its pilots communicated with Russian aircraft, in tentative signs the powers are working together to end the civil war ahead of UN talks.

Russian said its jets bombed 24 targets in Syria using coordinates supplied by "opposition representatives", the first time it has claimed to work with those fighting Syria's regime since beginning its air offensive.

"The coordinates of all of these targets were given to us by opposition representatives," senior military official Andrei Kartapolov said, without specifying the groups involved.

Hours later the Pentagon said its fighter pilots communicated directly with Russian jets in the skies over Syria, in the first test of a new strategy to ensure the two sides' parallel campaigns do not boil over into conflict between them.

Washington and Moscow signed an agreement on October 20 laying out rules keep their pilots away from each other in the air, after several close encounters raised the prospect of a mid-air collision or some other dangerous encounter.

A US-led coalition has been bombing Islamic State forces since December 2014, while the Russians opened an air campaign in September against a broader range of rebels that Western powers say is designed to support its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.