Drone fires towards USled troops

WASHINGTON: The United States shot down a proSyrian Government drone that fired towards USled coalition forces in Syria yesterday, a US military spokesman said, in a major escalation of tensions between Washington and troops supporting Damascus.

The armed drone ‘‘hit dirt’’ and there were no injuries or damage done to the coalition patrol in southern Syria. But US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the USled coalition fighting Islamic State, told reporters the drone was meant to attack them.

‘‘This clearly showed a threat, even if it were a warning shot; it was something that showed a hostile intent, a hostile action and posed a threat to our forces because this drone still had munitions that were still on it.’’

He said it was the first known time proSyrian Government forces had fired at coalition forces in that region.

Dillon said the United States had earlier carried out a strike against pickup trucks with weapons that had moved against USbacked fighters near the southern town of At Tanf.

It was the third such strike in as many weeks by the Pentagon, which has sought to stay out of Syria’s civil war to focus firepower on IS in Syria and Iraq.

The concern is that such strikes could take away attention from the fight against IS.

This week, the United States launched an air strike against Iranianbacked fighters whom it said posed a threat to US and USbacked forces in southern Syria.

A military alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al Assad threatened to hit US positions in Syria, warning its ‘‘selfrestraint’’ over US air strikes would end if Washington crossed ‘‘red lines’’.

In recent days, the US military has repeatedly warned massing forces to stay away from a ‘‘deconfliction zone’’ near a garrison used by American special forces and USbacked fighters around At Tanf.

The zone was agreed with Russia, Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s ally. Assad is also backed by Iran and Shi’ite militias.

Tanf is part of a region known as the Badia, a vast, sparsely populated desert territory that stretches to the Jordanian and Iraqi borders and was declared a military priority by Syria’s foreign minister in May. — Reuters