South Front
Staff Sgt. Roidan Carlson, 2d Combat Camera Squadron aerial combat broadcaster, and Royal Jordanian Air Force Lt. Col. Firas Masadeh, a flying wing commander, taxi in an RJAF F-16 Fighting Falcon before an aerial photography mission May 13, 2014, at an air base in northern Jordan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Sara Greco/Released)
On July 20, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria announced that a F-16 fighter jet of the United States-led coalition had used its targeting system on an airplane of the Russian Aerospace Forces over the country’s southern region.
“Ten violations of the Syrian airspace, committed by four pairs of F-16 fighters and one pair of Rafale fighters of the coalition, were registered in the al-Tanf zone, an area where international air traffic routes are located. At the same time, it was registered that an F-16 fighter jet used its targeting system on a plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was performing a scheduled flight along the southern border of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the center’s deputy chief Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov said.
According to Gurinov, the coalition also violated deconfliction protocols 12 times over the past 24 hours, as it sent its drones on missions over Syria without coordinating with the Russian military group in the country.
The U.S. maintains some 900 troops in Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIS. American troops are deployed between several bases at key oil and gas fields in the northeastern region of the country and al-Tanf garrison on the strategic Damascus-Baghdad highway in the southeastern region. Damascus does not approve of this presence and considers it to be an occupation.
Meanwhile the Russian military deployment in Syria, which is sanctioned by Damascus, is much larger. Russian troops are deployed at two large bases in the western region and dozens of smaller positions throughout the country.
Tensions between U.S. and Russian forces in Syria have been building up for a while now. Just last week, the U.S. Air Force alleged that one of its manned intelligence plane was harassed by a Russian fighter jet over the country.
The U.S. attempts to expand its military presence in Syria and its refusal to coordinate with the Russian side could eventually lead to a dangerous clash.
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