A US jet has shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by forces backing the Syrian government in the south of the country, American officials say.

The drone was thought to be armed and threatening US-led coalition troops on the ground, officials said.

But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the action amounted to “complicity with terrorism”.

The incident comes after the US shot down a Syrian fighter plane on Sunday and another drone earlier this month.

The F-15 plane downed the drone around 00:30 on Tuesday (21:30 GMT Monday) north-east of Tanf, an outpost of the US-led coalition, according to a US military statement.

The incident underscores the growing tensions in the region as a battle develops for the control of eastern Syria, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.

In another development, the US military announced officially that coalition forces had killed the top cleric of so-called Islamic State (IS), Turki al-Binali, in an air strike in Syria last month. IS supporters have also reported his death.

It is said by the Iranians to have a range of 2,000km (1,240 miles) and be capable of carrying bombs and missiles.

“They were threatening our forces on the ground,” the US official quoted by AFP said. “Their course was on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them.”

The last drone the US says it shot down was also reportedly destroyed near Tanf after firing on coalition forces.

Tanf has been used by Western special forces as well as Syrian rebel forces.

The Syrian plane destroyed on Sunday, a Su-22 fighter bomber, was hit after reportedly dropping bombs near the town of Tabqa in Raqqa province.

In response, Russia, one of Syria’s main allies, announced that US-led coalition warplanes flying west of the River Euphrates would be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets

It suspended a hotline set up to avoid clashes between US and Russian aircraft in the region.

How dangerous is the situation?

With IS under growing pressure in Raqqa the fight is on for who controls the territory after its demise, our correspondent says.

Iranian-backed pro-Syrian regime forces are pushing forward on a number of fronts, and the US is equally eager to resist what it sees as a widening of Iranian influence.

Iran says it attacked IS fighters in eastern Syria with long-range missiles on Sunday.

So the tensions locally are mounting between the US and pro-regime forces; between the US and the Russians; and more broadly between Washington and Tehran.

By accident or design, any one of these sources of friction could prompt a much more significant military encounter, our correspondent adds.

Originally from Bahrain, Binali joined IS in 2014 and played a key role within the group acting as its top religious official and offering guidance to its leaders and militants alike, BBC Monitoring reports.

US Central Command says he was killed by an air strike on 31 May in the eastern town of Mayadin.

IS supporters went online to announce his death. BBC News</s>'Pro-Syrian regime drone' shot down by forces fighting IS, US military says

The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) group says it has shot down an armed pro-Syrian regime drone that had been bearing down on its forces in Syria's south-east.

It marked the second time in three days US forces have shot down an aircraft operated by Damascus or its allies in Syria, and reflected mounting tensions over a stretch of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier where US forces have established a base.

The US military said the drone was Iranian-made but it was unclear who was operating it.

US forces said the drone was fired on after it "displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces", US forces said in a statement.

The area falls in a part of Syria that was recently identified as a military priority by Damascus, and is seen as strategically important for Iran as it seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

The coalition statement said the location was close to where another "pro-regime" drone — which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian — was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces.

In an indirect reference to Iranian-backed forces that have been gathering in the eastern desert region, the coalition statement cited a recent escalation of tensions and said it would not "tolerate any hostile intent and action of pro-regime forces".

Tensions escalated on Sunday as the US Army brought down the jet near Raqqa and Iran launched missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria — the first time each state has carried out such actions in the multi-sided Syrian war.

Russia, like Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, issued a warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down.

Australia said it would temporarily halt air operations over Syria after the plane was downed.

In Syria's tangled conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both Mr Assad and Islamist militants, while Mr Assad is backed by Russia, Iran and Shiite militia.

The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Mr Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone", agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by US special forces and US-backed militia around Al Tanf.

On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the US-led coalition have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them advancing from the Al Tanf garrison in south-eastern Syria at a spot where the country's borders join Iraq and Jordan.

Washington also described those strikes as self-defence.

The competition between the Syrian army and the militias and US-backed Free Syrian Army rebels has stepped up in the Badia desert that stretches to the Iraqi border after IS abandoned large swathes of territory as it defends Raqqa and Deir Zor.

The Syrian army has been able to make rapid advances allowing them to reach the border for the first time in years.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — 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 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 IS, 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 IS. 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 IS 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.

In another first, Iran — another close Assad ally — fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. 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.

A spokesman for the Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing “local sources” and drone footage.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran’s “military power,” though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top IS 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 IS branch in Libya.

Activists and IS 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. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where the March 2011 uprising against the Assad family’s four-decade rule began. The conflict quickly descended into a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad’s troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.</s>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 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 IS, 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 IS. 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.

Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against IS 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.

In another first, Iran - another close Assad ally - fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. 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.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power," though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top IS 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 IS branch in Libya.

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.

"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. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad's troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.</s>Beirut - A US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, officials said, in the latest incident in rising tensions between the two sides.

It comes days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the north of the country, prompting a furious reaction from Russia.

Moscow has now suspended an incident hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria’s crowded air space, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes “targets”. The rising tensions prompted Australia to announce it was suspending its participation in air missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group. In Tuesday’s incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al-Tanaf base along Syria’s eastern border.

“It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces,” the statement said.

A US military official told AFP the drone was “on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them” and was shot down in self-defence. Coalition forces are using the Al-Tanaf base by Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq to train anti-jihadist Syrian fighters and stage attacks against IS. But their presence there has led to a series of confrontations with pro-regime forces, including on June 8 when a US plane also downed a drone after it dropped munitions near Al-Tanaf.

That incident followed two others involving US fire against pro-regime forces on the ground as they came close to the garrison.

Tensions have also flared between US forces and the Syrian regime further north, where the coalition is supporting an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling to oust IS from the city of Raqa.

On Sunday, a US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane for the first time in the country’s conflict south of Raqa, sparking an angry reaction from regime ally Russia.

Moscow said it was suspending an incident hotline set up two years ago and warned that it would consider international aircraft operating in central Syria “aerial targets.”

Washington said it would “work diplomatically and militarily... to reestablish deconfliction” but Moscow continued to take a hard line Tuesday even before the latest incident.

“It is absolutely illegal,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday of the presence of American forces in Syria.

“There has been neither a Security Council decision, nor a request from the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic as a sovereign state,” Russia’s Interfax news reported.

The growing tensions come as the coalition supports the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting to take Raqa from IS.</s>Pentagon declined to speculate on who was operating it but said drone advanced on coalition forces in Syria's southeast.

The US military says it has shot down an armed, Iran-made drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria's southeast.

In the latest sign of increasingly frequent confrontation with Damascus and its allies, Tuesday's incident closely followed Sunday's US downing of a piloted Syrian army jet in the southern Raqqa countryside after it dropped bombs near US-backed forces.

The Pentagon said a US F-15 aircraft, flying over Syrian territory, fired on the drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said it had "dirty wings", meaning it was armed.

"I can tell you it was an Iranian-made drone," Davis said, declining to speculate on who was operating it.

The area falls in a part of Syria that was recently identified as military priority by Damascus, and strategically important for Iran as it seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

The US-led coalition said the location was close to where another "pro-[Assad] regime" drone, which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian, was shot down on June 8.

The drone was shot down after it dropped bombs, aimed only at dirt, but in an area close enough to coalition forces whereby it was considered a threat.

In an indirect reference to Iranian-backed forces that have been gathering in the eastern desert region, a US-led coalition statement cited a recent escalation of tensions and said it would not "tolerate any hostile intent and action of pro-regime forces".

Russia, also an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, issued a warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down.

Still, the Pentagon said it had not seen hostile action from Moscow.

"Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures," Davis said.

Meanwhile, the US and Russian militaries swapped accusations about an unsafe intercept involving a US spy plane and a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic Sea.

In Syria's tangled conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Assad and fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone", agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by US special forces and US-backed armed groups around Al-Tanf.

In recent weeks, US-led coalition's warplanes struck pro-Assad government forces to prevent them advancing from the Al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria at a spot where the country's borders meet Iraq and Jordan.

Washington also described those strikes as self defence.

The competition between the Syrian army and its allies and US-backed rebel groups has stepped up in the Badia desert that stretches to the Iraqi border, after ISIL abandoned large swaths of territory to focus on defending Raqqa and Deir Zor.

The Syrian army has since made rapid advances, allowing them to reach the border for the first time in years.</s>A United States (US) warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, officials said, in the latest incident in rising tensions between the two sides.

It comes days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the north of the country, prompting a furious reaction from Russia.

Moscow has now suspended an incident hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria's crowded air space, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes “targets”.

The rising tensions prompted Australia to announce it was suspending its participation in air missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition fighting the militant Islamic State group.

In Tuesday's incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al-Tanaf base along Syria's eastern border.

“It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces,” the statement said.

A US military official told AFP the drone was “on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them” and was shot down in self-defence.

Coalition forces are using the Al-Tanaf base by Syria's borders with Jordan and Iraq to train anti-jihadist Syrian fighters and stage attacks against IS.

But their presence there has led to a series of confrontations with pro-regime forces, including on June 8 when a US plane also downed a drone after it dropped munitions near Al-Tanaf.

That incident followed two others involving US fire against pro-regime forces on the ground as they came close to the garrison.

Tensions have also flared between US forces and the Syrian regime further north, where the coalition is supporting an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling to oust IS from the city of Raqa.

On Sunday, a US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane for the first time in the country's conflict south of Raqa, sparking an angry reaction from regime ally Russia.

Moscow said it was suspending an incident hotline set up two years ago and warned that it would consider international aircraft operating in central Syria “aerial targets.”

Washington said it would “work diplomatically and militarily... to reestablish deconfliction” but Moscow continued to take a hard line Tuesday even before the latest incident.

“It is absolutely illegal,” Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday of the presence of American forces in Syria.

“There has been neither a Security Council decision, nor a request from the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic as a sovereign state,” Russia's Interfax news reported.

The growing tensions come as the coalition supports the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting to take Raqa from IS.

The SDF now control four neighbourhoods in the city, and on Tuesday also advanced along its southern outskirts, moving closer to completely encircling Raqa.

Syria's government is not involved in the operation and is instead looking further east to the largely IS-held oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

Its forces are moving on three fronts, south of Raqa city, through the central Badia desert region, and along the eastern border.

And it is on the Raqa and eastern border fronts where the advances have brought the regime into conflict with US-led forces.

On June 9, despite the series of engagements with US forces at Al-Tanaf, the regime skirted around the base to arrive at the Iraqi border for the first time since 2015.

The move effectively blocks international forces and their local partners in the garrison, and prevents them from themselves advancing towards Deir Ezzor.

Despite the increasing number of incidents, analysts say neither Syria's regime nor Washington currently wants a major confrontation.

“It doesn't look like anyone currently intends to deliberately escalate further, but when you've got these little skirmishes... the risk is that you can end up in an escalation by accident,” said Sam Heller, a Syria expert at The Century Foundation.

More than 320,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.

It has became a complex war drawing in multiple foreign players, including Russia, which launched a military campaign to support the regime in 2015 that has helped the government recapture large swathes of territory.</s>(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 that the U.S. has downed aircraft affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS 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 ISIS, 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 ISIS. 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 ISIS.

Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against ISIS 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.

In another first, Iran — another close Assad ally — fired ballistic missiles at ISIS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. 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.

A spokesman for the Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing "local sources" and drone footage.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power," though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top ISIS 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 IS branch in Libya.

Activists and ISIS 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. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where the March 2011 uprising against the Assad family's four-decade rule began. The conflict quickly descended into a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad's troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.</s>The United States has confirmed that it has shot down an Iranian drone flying over Syria near the now infamous illegal US base near At Tanf in southern Syria.

At Tanf has been the location of several illegal US attacks on Syrian and allied convoys.

This is the first aggressive act the US has committed against a Syrian allied aircraft in 48 hours. Two days ago, the US downed a Syrian jet flying in Syrian airspace, a clear violation of the letter and spirit of international law.

The US is literally an illegal occupying force in Syria with no international mandate or justification for its operations in the country.

Iran by contrast operates in Syria legally as part of the Syrian led anti-terrorist coalition which also includes Russia.

The United States said that it would try to avoid confrontations with Syrian and allied aircraft after Russia said it would consider non-allied aircraft flying west of the Euphrates in Syria as legitimate targets.

This is the first US attack on a Syrian allied aircraft since Russia issued its warning.

The US detailed the nature of the downing of the Iranian drone in the following way,

The US keeps saying that it has no intention of targeting Syrian and allied aircraft but these words are betrayed by unrelenting US actions to the contrary.

The US has now shot down Syrian aircraft and Iranian aircraft. All that remains is for the US to attempt to shoot down a Russian aircraft for things to get incredibly dangerous, more so than they already are.

The illegal US base in At Tanif has been a consistently dangerous place for Syrian and allied troops.

Any member of the Syrian coalition, including Russia would be within its rights to strike at the US base in At Tanif and reduce it to rubble.

Russia ought to strongly consider the possibility of giving personnel at the base a short time to evacuate before firing on the garrison and destroying it once and for all.</s>The United States has confirmed that it has shot down an Iranian drone flying over Syria near the now infamous illegal US base near At Tanf in southern Syria.

At Tanf has been the location of several illegal US attacks on Syrian and allied convoys.

This is the first aggressive act the US has committed against a Syrian allied aircraft in 48 hours. Two days ago, the US downed a Syrian jet flying in Syrian airspace, a clear violation of the letter and spirit of international law.

The US is literally an illegal occupying force in Syria with no international mandate or justification for its operations in the country.

Iran by contrast operates in Syria legally as part of the Syrian led anti-terrorist coalition which also includes Russia.

The United States said that it would try to avoid confrontations with Syrian and allied aircraft after Russia said it would consider non-allied aircraft flying west of the Euphrates in Syria as legitimate targets.

This is the first US attack on a Syrian allied aircraft since Russia issued its warning.

The US detailed the nature of the downing of the Iranian drone in the following way,

The US keeps saying that it has no intention of targeting Syrian and allied aircraft but these words are betrayed by unrelenting US actions to the contrary.

The US has now shot down Syrian aircraft and Iranian aircraft. All that remains is for the US to attempt to shoot down a Russian aircraft for things to get incredibly dangerous, more so than they already are.

The illegal US base in At Tanif has been a consistently dangerous place for Syrian and allied troops.

Any member of the Syrian coalition, including Russia would be within its rights to strike at the US base in At Tanif and reduce it to rubble.

Russia ought to strongly consider the possibility of giving personnel at the base a short time to evacuate before firing on the garrison and destroying it once and for all.
A U.S. F-15 shoots down an Iranian Shahed 129 drone near the Jordan–Syria border where U.S. ground forces are based.