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U.S. downs Iranian-made drone
F-15 fighter shoots armed aircraft after it flew near a coalition forces camp.
BEIRUT — The U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian-made armed drone in southern Syria on Tuesday, marking the third time this month that the U.S. downed aircraft affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.
The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said a U.S. F-15 fighter jet shot down the drone “after it displayed hostile intent” while approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. A similar drone was shot down in the same location after it dropped munitions near coalition forces on June 8.
The repeated incidents in the vicinity of the Tanf camp, where U.S. forces train and advise local ground forces in the fight against Islamic State, add to soaring regional tensions that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the extremists enters a crucial phase, with U.S.-backed forces pushing into the group’s de facto capital, Raqqa.
The U.S. on Sunday shot down a Syrian jet for the first time during the conflict near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, which are battling Islamic State. Russia condemned the U.S. action and in retaliation suspended a hotline intended to prevent such incidents.
Asked Tuesday whether the hotline was no longer being used, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said he could not discuss the matter beyond saying the U.S. stands ready to use the line.
“The de-confliction line has proven effective at mitigating strategic miscalculations and escalating tense situations, and to be clear, we prefer to keep this channel of communication open. We want to de-escalate, not escalate,” Davis said. “We remain available on our end. I’ll leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation.”
The U.S. has also fired on Syrian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in the last month.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said the drone shot down Tuesday appeared to have been operated by “pro-regime” forces, a term that U.S. officials have used to describe Hezbollah elements.
As a precaution, Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, after Russia announced it was suspending the hotline and warned the U.S.-led coalition not to fly over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.
In another first, Iran — another close Assad ally — later on Sunday fired ballistic missiles at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir elZour.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.
Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing “local sources” and drone footage.
Sharif said that, although Iran has no plan to start another war, the missile launch reflected Iran’s “military power.” Israeli Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot said Tuesday the “operational achievement was much smaller” than reported.