US-led
coalition downed Syrian army plane in southern Raqqa - Syrian army
statement
FILE
PHOTO © Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
RT,
18
June, 2017
The
US-led coalition has downed a government warplane in southern Syria,
the Syrian army and coalition have announced in separate statements.
The Syrian military added that the plane’s pilot is now missing.
According
to the Syrian statement,
the plane was carrying out operations against Islamic State (IS,
formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the countryside around Raqqa when it was
targeted, leading to a crash and the loss of the pilot, who is
currently missing.
“This
attack comes at a time when the Syrian Arab army and its allies are
advancing in the fight against ISIS terrorists who are being defeated
in the Syrian desert in more ways than one,”
the statement read.
The
statement added that although such attacks seek to undermine the
Syrian armed forces’ struggle against terrorism, they will not be
deterred in fighting for stability and security in the Syrian Arab
Republic.
The
downing of the Syrian warplane, an Su-22, was confirmed by an
official press statement from Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led
international task force against IS, which accused the Syrian
government of targeting fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a
Kurdish-led militia.
“At
6:43pm, a Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south
of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and collective
self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down
by a US F/A-18E Super Hornet,” the
statement read.
The
statement added that its mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria
and that the Coalition does not seek to “fight
Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but
will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any
threat.”
This
is not the first time that the US-led intervention in Syria has led
to standoffs and violence against pro-government forces. In September
2016, a coalition airstrike on Deir ez-Zor killed over 60 Syrian
soldiers while in April 2017, US President Donald Trump ordered a
Tomahawk missile strike on the Shayrat airbase, ostensibly in
retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by the Syria government,
though no concrete evidence of this has emerged.
Earlier
in June, the US deployed several High Mobility Artillery Rocket
Systems (HIMARS) in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the presence of the
rocket launchers cannot be justified by a need to fight Islamic State
terrorists, as IS forces are not active in the area. Instead, their
presence threatens the cooperation between the Syrian government and
their partners in Iraq.
From the 8
June
The
US-led coalition has struck Syrian pro-government forces near its
training base of At Tanf, and shot down an armed drone outside its
deconfliction zone. The previous airstrike close to At Tanf on
Tuesday was condemned by Damascus and Moscow.2
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