DHAKA: The US secretary of state John Kerry has expressed concern over reports of Russia’s enhanced military build-up in Syria in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart.

The US state department said, reports Al Jazeera.

The phone call came a day after media reports quoted US officials as describing an increase in Russian military activity in Syria, expanding the country’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

‘The secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-IS coalition operating in Syria,’ the state department said on Saturday, referring to the Islamic State (IS) of Iraq and Syria.

It said Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, agreed that discussions on the Syrian conflict would continue this month in New York, where the UN General Assembly meets.

Quoting unidentified Obama administration officials, the New York Times said Russia has dispatched a military advance team to Syria and has sent prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and delivered a portable air traffic control station there.

BDST: 1301 HRS, SEPT 06, 2015
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