US defense officials say the US has asked Russia to avoid airstrikes in an area of northern Syria where American special operations forces have been working with Syrians fighting ISIS.
The US request was disclosed on Thursday by General Charles Q Brown Jr, commander of US air forces in the Middle East.
Brown says that in making the request, US officials did not pinpoint the US troops' location but did ask that Russian strike aircraft avoid broad areas.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook says the request was made directly from the Defence Department to the Russian Ministry of Defence, but he isn't saying when it came.
Cook says the Russians have honored the request so far.