U.S. shoots down Syrian fighter jet

washington» The U.S. military on Sunday shot down a Syrian air force fighter jet that bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State. The action appeared to mark a new escalation of the conflict.

The U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a written statement that a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. The shootdown was near the Syrian town of Tabqa.

The U.S. military statement said it acted in “collective self-defense” of its partner forces and that the U.S. did not seek a fight with the Syrian government or its Russian supporters.

According to a statement from the Pentagon, pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja’Din, south of Tabqah in northern Syria, wounding SDF fighters and driving the SDF from the town.

Coalition aircrafts conducted a show of force and stopped the initial pro-regime advance toward the town, the Pentagon said.

After the pro-Syrian forces’ attack, the coalition called its Russian counterparts “to de-escalate the situation and stop the firing,” according to the statement.

A few hours later, the Syrian SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters and, “in collective self-defense of coalition-partnered forces,” was shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet, the Pentagon said.

Syrian, Iraqi troops link at border for first time in years. Syrian troops and

allied militias met up with Iraqi forces at one crossing point along their shared border Sunday for the first time in years, in a step described as a major achievement by the Syrian military in their fight against the Islamic State.

The meeting with Iraqi forces reported by progovernment media took place a day after Iraqi forces captured a border crossing point with Syria from the Islamic State militants. It was not immediately clear if the Syrian forces reached a new point along their border with Iraq or whether it was the Iraqi forces that had moved northeast of their newly captured point. The U.S.-led coalition said it was aware of the Iraqi forces’ maneuvers along the border, which highlight Baghdad’s resolve to fight the Islamic State.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard strikes Syria for Tehran attacks •

tehran, iran» Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Sunday it launched missiles into eastern Syria, targeting Islamic State militants in response to an attack on Iran’s parliament and a shrine in Tehran, warning that it would similarly retaliate against anyone else carrying out attacks in Iran. The launch of surface-to-surface medium range missiles into Syria’s Deir el-Zour province comes as Islamic State militants fleeing a U.S.-led coalition onslaught increasingly try to fortify