A U.S. military official told AFP the drone was "on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them" and was shot down in self-defence.
The incident has similar hallmarks to a June 8 downing, when a U.S. jet destroyed a pro-regime drone after it dropped what turned out to be a dud bomb near US-backed local forces. In this chapter, the threat of the US sliding into all out war with the Syrian government is higher, and the threat of direct confrontation with Russian Federation is perhaps the highest it's been since the Cold War. How permanent they may or may not be remains unclear. "We remain available on our end".
"From now on, in areas where Russian aviation performs combat missions in the skies of Syria, any airborne objects found west of the Euphrates River, including aircraft and unmanned vehicles belonging to the worldwide coalition, tracked by means of Russian land and air anti-aircraft defense, will be considered air targets", CNN reported citing the Defense Ministry statement. He also confirmed that there had been recent instances in which ground-based air defenses were directed at coalition planes.
After denouncing Assad and tacitly supporting moderate rebels, the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries declined to send ground troops to assist in the Syrian conflict.
Russian Federation condemned the USA latest strike against a Syrian aircraft, calling it a "flagrant violation of worldwide law".
The incident comes on the heels of a U.S. Navy attack on a piloted Syrian Su-22 jet in the Southern Raqqa countryside and indicates an increasingly assertive stance by the U.S., which is yet to spell out a coherent policy in Syria.
Coalition forces were manning a combat outpost northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
A U.S. senator has warned against the United States' measures in Syria, which is pushing Washington "closer and closer" to a military conflict with Iran and Russian Federation, describing the move as "another mistake on the scope of the Iraq War". The drone was shot down shortly after midnight local time, the statement said.
There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities.
Russia's defense ministry warned it will start tracking coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates River, calling the shootdown a "cynical violation" of Syria's sovereignty.
Syria's neighbors have been dragged into the conflict in the interests of their own border security.
Don't rush Obamacare repeal vote
But the host of "Meet the Press" reported a "solid source" told him that some Republicans are already opposed to the Senate draft. President Donald Trump recently called the measure " mean " and has since been asking for a more compassionate Senate bill .
Taking advantage of the chaos, "Islamic State" (IS) terrorists captured vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
In a report Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War, referring to intelligence and expert sources, said that the Islamic State in Raqqa had already relocated "the majority of its leadership, media, chemical weapons, and external attack cells" south to the town of Mayadin in Deir al-Zour province. He added the rare missile strike expressed Iran's aspirations in the region.
Still, the Pentagon said it had not seen hostile action by Moscow.
The U.S. military has confirmed it killed a top Islamic State cleric in an airstrike. 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.
That was a rarity in modern warfare, representing the first time the U.S. Air Force had downed a manned jet since 1999. No doubt the groups involved in the campaign will demand United States support as they battle against pro-Assad Hezbollah and Iranian forces.
Syrian opposition activists say a truce that went into effect three days ago in the southern city of Daraa has collapsed amid a government offensive near the Jordanian border.
The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone", agreed with Russian Federation, near a garrison used by US special forces and US-backed armed groups around Al-Tanf. "The regime made the truce and then violated it". It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.
More than 300,000 people have been killed and half the population in Syria displaced since 2011, when regime forces launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters calling for the release of political prisoners and for Assad to step down.
"And we have to understand what we're getting involved in, right".
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