U.S. jets to be tracked, Russia says
Government issues ‘warning’ after U.S. downs Syrian plane bombing near partner forces
MOSCOW— Warplanes from the U.S.led coalition operating over Syrian government-controlled areas west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as potential targets, Russia’s Defence Ministry said Monday, a day after the U.S. military shot down a Syrian air force jet. Moscow condemned the downing of the Syrian jet after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces that are fighting Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria’s complicated civil war.
The downing of the warplane — the first time in the conflict that the U.S. has shot down a Syrian jet — came as Iran fired several ballistic missiles at Daesh positions in retaliation for two attacks by the extremists in Tehran earlier this month.
Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been providing an air cover to the government’s offensive since 2015.
The U.S. military confirmed that one of its F-18 Super Hornets shot down a Syrian Su-22 that had dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces SDF. Those forces, aligned with the U.S., warned Syrian government troops to stop their attacks or face retaliation.
There are also fears Canadian military aircraft operating over Syria could be caught in the middle of the new and potentially explosive dispute between the U.S. and Russia. The Canadian military has been flying surveillance aircraft and a refuelling plane over Syria as part of the U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition.
U.S. National Defence says it is monitoring the situation, but won’t comment on where the planes have been flying in Syria. The Trudeau government is reviewing possible changes to Canada’s mission against Daesh, whose current mandate is set to expire at the end of the month. In comments to Russian news agencies, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov compared the downing to “helping the terrorists that the U.S. is fighting against.”
“What is this, if not an act of aggression?” he asked.
Viktor Ozerov, chairperson of the defence and security committee at the upper chamber of Russian parliament, described the ministry’s statement as a warning. “I’m sure that because of this neither the U.S. nor anyone else will take any actions to threaten our aircraft,” he told the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency. “That’s why there’s no threat of direct confrontation between Russia and American aircraft.”
Ozerov insisted that Russia will be tracking the coalition’s jets, not shooting them down, but he added that “a threat for those jets may appear only if they take action that pose a threat to Russian aircraft.”