The U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State said Friday that it had pulled back surveillance aircraft following a convoy stalled in the Syrian desert at Russia’s request.
“To ensure safe de-confliction of efforts to defeat ISIS, coalition surveillance aircraft departed the adjacent airspace at the request of Russian officials during their assault on Dawyr Az Zawyr,” the coalition said in a statement reported by the Hill.
ISIS terrorists and their family members have been stuck on 11 buses in the desert in eastern Syria for more than a week after coalition forces cratered the road and destroyed a bridge with airstrikes, the Hill reports.
The coalition acted to prevent the members in the original 17-bus convoy from making it across Syria to link up with ISIS members in Iraq.
The steps forced six buses to return to Palmyra, a city controlled by the Syrian government, and stranded the other 11,
