U.S. jets shoot down "Iranian drone" in Syria

United States forces in southern Syria have shot down an Iranian-made armed drone in the second such incident in 12 days, in a further sign that Washington and Tehran's agendas are colliding along the Syrian-Iraqi desert frontier.

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".

On Sunday, a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 drone after it dropped bombs near troops from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are now moving towards Raqqah, Daesh's Syrian stronghold.

Two days earlier, an American FA-18 shot down a Syrian SU-22 warplane that had dropped bombs near American-backed fighters combating the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, US General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a day earlier that Washington was working to restore a "deconfliction" line with Moscow meant to avoid mid-air collisions over Syria.

"In an email to NPR, Australia's Department of Defense says it will make a decision on rejoining the U.S-led air campaign in due course", NPR's Alison Meuse reports from Beirut.

"I think we're getting closer and closer to open conflict with Iran and Russian Federation, and the American public needs to know that we're moving very fast toward what could be another war inside the Middle East", Murphy told anchor Alisyn Camerota on CNN's "New Day", "something by the way that Donald Trump promised he wouldn't do when he ran for office".

The Syrian civil war remains the world's most enduring conflict, with millions displaced from the bloody fighting and bombing operations. "I'll leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation".

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

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

There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities. "This comes at a time when the Syrian army and its allies were making clear advances in fighting the [Islamic State] terrorist group".

On Sunday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had fired mid-range ground-to-ground missiles from a site in western Iran targeting "the headquarters and meeting place and suicide auto assembly line" of "IS terrorists" in Deir al-Zour province.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power", though Iran has no intention of starting another war.

It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details.

The drone was thought to be armed and threatening USA troops on the ground, officials said. According to Washington sources, the jet had bombed USA -backed forces. 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.

Meanwhile, the US and Russian militaries swapped accusations about an unsafe intercept involving a USA spy plane and a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic Sea. The 48-hour truce that had started there at noon Saturday was supposed to be extended.

"Dirty wings" is a military term used to describe a plane carrying armaments. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where Syria's crisis first broke out in March 2011 as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's government.

Coalition forces use the area - just northeast of the Jordanian border - as a training and staging area for attacks against IS.