The U.S. shot down an Iranian made armed drone over Syria Tuesday, just two days after it shot down a Syrian regime fighter aircraft.
The news from Australia, one of the coalition partners fighting ISIS in Syria, was described as a blow for the US, putting it in a "very hard position" at a critical time as the battle to liberate the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa continues.
"Australian Defence Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats", it said.
On Thursday, a decision was made to resume the air strikes in Syria after an assessment of the Russian statement, although it did not say when they would begin again.
Australia confirmed that operations in Iraq would continue.
Russia, which is allied with the Syrian regime and has acted as its intermediary with the US, declared on Monday that it would now consider any aircraft west of the Euphrates River in Syria a target and announced it was shutting down a hotline with the U.S.to deconflict its air forces over Syria.
Australia is part of a USA -led coalition that has been waging war against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
The unmanned, armed drone was advancing on United States forces, and was shot at after it "displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces" according to a statement carried by Reuters.
The Syrian army said its warplane was on a mission against IS when it came under fire, according to state television.
Two events over the weekend - the shooting down by a U.S. plane of a Syrian Su-22 and the use of ballistic missiles by Iran against ISIS targets - are evidence of a scramble in eastern Syria that's been gathering pace since the beginning of the year.
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Last week, he hosted more than a dozen Senate Republicans at the White House to build unity ahead of the bill's unveiling. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved its version of repeal last month.
At that time, Russia suspended the deconfliction line - a line of communication established to reduce the risk that Russian and coalition aircraft could get too close.
"This is a risk that I am sure other countries participating in the global coalition share". Australia is part of that campaign.
Despite the recent violence, US officials stressed they have no plans to escalate fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Chris Murphy of CT warned Tuesday that the United States could be edging toward a military conflict with Iran and Russian Federation in Syria.
"Air operations continue and de-confliction measures are ongoing", a United Kingdom government spokesperson said Tuesday.
Forces with competing aims are now at close quarters in eastern Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow had asked for a "detailed explanation" of Monday's downing of a Syrian Su-22 bomber.
The US has about 1,000 military personnel in northern Syria, where it has been supplying and supporting partnered forces in their fight in the ISIS-stronghold of Raqqa.
The Australian Defense Force's name for its effort to fight ISIS is Operation OKRA.
Aron Lund, also a fellow at the Century Foundation, said that even though Russian Federation and the US may not be interested in an escalation, it is not a given that they can help their allies in Syria avoid it.
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