“Uncoordinated deconfliction” how a U.S. official described the relationship between the U.S. and the Syrian government when it comes to the Western/Arab air campaign against the Islamic State. That apparently means that Assad isn’t threatening coalition aircraft with his air defenses and that the parties are not in direct communication.

The description comes within a piece from the Washington Post about a possible plan for the U.S. to help Turkey set up a buffer zone in Syria under joint international control. That deal would allow the U.S. to start launching air missions against the Islamic State from Turkish territory, while allowing Turkey to increase its role in supporting and directing the Syrian rebels (they have shown a perhaps problematic penchant for more extreme members of the Syrian opposition) and providing a more secure place for some Syrian refugees. That would seem to aid the U.S. in its top objective — destroying the Islamic State — but it would come at a high cost. Nonetheless, it looks like the U.S. is putting significant diplomatic resources into making it happen.