On Thursday, the White House called on Russia to stop its “reckless and threatening” operations in Syria, at a time when the possibility of a military escalation between Washington and Moscow is escalating in light of the repeated Russian attacks against US drones over Syria.
A newspaper report says:Wall Street Journal“, The current tensions could turn into a “conflict arena” between the two countries, as it quoted US officials as saying that “indicators of the danger of confrontation have risen,” after a Russian fighter dropped, on Wednesday, flare bombs over an American drone while it was participating in a mission against ISIS. in Syria, which damaged its propeller.
Wednesday’s incident followed a similar incident on Sunday when another MQ-9 drone was damaged in what US officials believe is a concerted Russian effort to pressure the US military to withdraw from Syria.
Drones weren’t the only ones harassed by Russian pilots in recent weeks.
On July 16, a Russian fighter carried out a dangerous maneuver and came too close to a manned US reconnaissance plane, endangering its crew, forcing it to fly turbulently and reducing “the crew’s ability to operate the aircraft safely,” according to the commander of the US Central Command’s Air Forces, General Alexus Grynkewich.
In the aftermath of Sunday’s incident, the Pentagon publicly indicated that Russian harassment of the US drone was unprofessional and released a video of the incident.
The newspaper shows that American officials had hoped that this announcement would lead to Russia reversing its harassment, but they were frustrated by the new incident that occurred on Wednesday.
It adds that Russia had previously carried out a similar incident over the Black Sea, when last March a Russian fighter harassed an American “MQ-9” drone, damaging one of its propellers and forcing the US forces to drop it into the sea water.
On that incident, the newspaper reported that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu praised the Russian pilots who carried out the accident.
On the other hand, a senior Russian military official claimed last week that a Russian military aircraft was hit by the “guidance systems” of F-16 fighter jets of the US-led coalition during a routine patrol over Syria’s southern border.
The former US Central Command commander, retired General Frank McKenzie, believes that Moscow’s strategy is to try to force the US forces to retreat in Syria in conjunction with the decline of its military presence in the Middle East in general.
McKenzie adds that the Russians “want to make the process (remaining in Syria) so costly that the Americans cannot proceed with it, and thus get out of the region.”
According to the newspaper, Moscow’s actions prompted US officials to think about how to respond, including through non-military means, in the event that the Russians shot down an American drone.
It quoted the uncle of a US defense official as saying: “It’s certainly something we’re paying more attention to.”
On the other hand, the US military announced in a statement, on Wednesday, that 12 advanced F-35 fighters had arrived in the Middle East with the aim of deterring Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf.
And the newspaper confirms that the US military also indicated in the statement that these aircraft can “fly in the disputed airspace across the theater of operations if necessary,” in reference to the ongoing mission of US forces to defeat the Islamic State.
The United States has about 900 troops in Syria to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fight the remnants of the Islamic State group.
#death #toll #bombing #Ashura #commemoration #ceremonies #Damascus #risen
2023-07-28 04:19:08
