The US military reportedly shot down a Turkish drone with an F-16 fighter jet in Syria/Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
2023.10.07 Sat posted at 16:16 JST
(CNN) A Turkish armed drone approached U.S. forces deployed in Hasakah, northeastern Syria, and the U.S. military, determining that it posed a potential threat, deployed an F-16 fighter jet as a self-defense measure. By the 7th, it was known that the aircraft had been shot down.
Multiple U.S. government officials familiar with the matter told CNN. The United States and Turkey are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was an unprecedented situation in which a member state decided to intercept a drone belonging to another member state.
There were no casualties among U.S. forces in the drone attack. According to Reuters, Turkey’s Defense Ministry denied that the drone belonged to the country’s military.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin spoke by phone with Turkey’s Defense Minister Guler after the shootdown. Pentagon Spokesman Ryder said the secretary reiterated that U.S. forces remain in Syria only to help root out the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
He also understood Turkey’s legitimate security concerns and emphasized the importance of close cooperation between the two countries to ensure that defeating ISIS poses no risk to the U.S. military.
According to U.S. government officials, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an ethnic Kurdish armed group that fights alongside U.S. forces against ISIS, was also in the area where the drone approached. The U.S. military reportedly issued more than a dozen warnings before shooting down the drone, which was repeatedly approaching. It is unclear how this warning will be communicated.
Turkey launched airstrikes on several Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria on the 5th, killing at least eight people, including six members of the security forces. Turkey is working hard to contain the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an illegal Kurdish armed organization that seeks secession and independence within its own territory, and also treats Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations, and has even attacked them. ing.
According to Spokesman Ryder, the downed drone “conducted an airstrike” within an “operational control zone” set up near a U.S. military deployment site. As a result, US troops were reportedly forced to evacuate to underground bunkers.
A U.S. military commander recognized the drone as a potential threat because it came within 500 meters of his troops, and an F-16 aircraft shot it down. “There was no initial indication that Turkey was intentionally targeting U.S. forces,” he said, “This was an unfortunate development.”
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2023-10-07 07:16:00
