U.S. shoots down Iranian drone in Syria
The regime-linked aircraft ‘displayed hostile intent,’ authorities say
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. has 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, the Syrian city of 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.
The U.S. has also fired on Syrian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in just the last month.
A defense official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the drone shot down Tuesday was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by “pro-regime” forces.
There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities that would hinder the battle against IS.
Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria as a precaution, 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.
The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top Islamic State cleric Turki al-Binali was killed in a coalition airstrike on May 31, in Mayadeen, Syria. The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of hundreds of women from Iraq’s Yazidi minority and helped establish the Islamic State branch in Libya.
Activists and Islamic State supporters reported his death at the time but Tuesday’s statement from Central Command was the first U.S. confirmation.
Fighting and bombardment meanwhile resumed early Tuesday between Syrian government forces and rebels in the southern city of Daraa and nearby areas, where a 48-hour truce had gone into effect on Saturday.
The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.
A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
“The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing,” said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. “The regime made the truce and then violated it.”
The activist-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government troops captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels.