Reuters, Jun 19, 2017 – The United States is working to restore a “deconfliction” communications line with Russia meant to avoid an accidental clash over Syria, the top U.S. general said on Monday, after Moscow cut it off after the U.S. downing of a Syrian military jet on Sunday.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was still communications between a U.S. air operations center in Qatar and Russian forces on the ground in Syria but added: “We’ll work diplomatically and military in the coming hours to reestablish deconfliction.”

deconfliction= Reduce the risk of collision between (aircraft, airborne weaponry, etc.) in an area by coordinating their movements