US warplane downs ‘hostile’ Syria drone

Official says craft was shot down in self-defence

WASHINGTON // A US warplane shot down an Iran-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria yesterday, officials said, the second such incident in less than two weeks.

The US- led anti- ISIL coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed the Shaheed-129 drone about 12.30am, northeast of the Al Tanaf garrison, close to the Jordanian border.

“It displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces,” the coalition said.

Coalition troops were working in the area alongside local forces who are being trained to fight ISIL.

A US military official said the drone was “on a run towards our folks to drop a munition on them”, so the coalition shot down the unmanned aircraft in self-defence.

Al Tanaf, on the key highway connecting Damascus with Baghdad, has been threatened by a surge of Iran-backed troops loyal to Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.

Coalition forces use the area – north-east of the Jordanian border – as a training and staging area for attacks against ISIL. The incident was similar to when a US jet destroyed a pro- regime drone on June 8 after it dropped what turned out to be a dud bomb near USbacked local forces.

It also comes after an American warplane shot down a Syrian government jet on Sunday in north Syria as it “dropped bombs” near Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance fighting ISIL.

The destruction of the regime jet led Moscow to say it would sever a vital hotline it uses to communicate with the coalition to avoid mishaps in Syria’s crowded battlespace.

The coalition also said yesterday it had killed a leading ISIL figure. “Coalition forces killed Turki Bin’ali, the self- proclaimed ‘Grand Mufti’ or chief cleric of ISIL in an air strike on May 31 in Mayadeen, Syria,” the coalition said.

Elsewhere, government air and artillery bombardments hit rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Deraa after a two-day ceasefire ended, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It came as US and Russian officials held talks on creating a “de-escalation zone” in southwest Syria, including Deraa.