US reinforces defences in Syria after Russia jet flies ‘dangerously’

The United States is taking defensive measures to confront the challenges resulting from the unsafe behaviour of Russian aircraft in Syria, the State Department said yesterday.

“We have noticed problems related to the unprofessional and unsafe behaviour of Russian aviation in Syria,” a press statement explained.

It called on Russia to return to non-conflict protocols in order to avoid any unintended error that might be caused by the Russian fighter jet’s behaviour which it described as both “unprofessional and irresponsible”.

The United States has already threatened to take military action against Russian forces in Syria, after the increased air friction between the two sides.

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Al Jazeera quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon official as saying that “the United States is studying a number of military options to confront the increasing Russian aggression in Syria’s airspace.”

He added that there are fears of Russian pilots shooting down drones, indicating that Moscow believes that this type of action will not be met with a strong US military response.

The official pointed out that the Russian military activity is increasing with growing cooperation and coordination between Moscow, Tehran and the Syrian regime in an attempt to pressure the United States to leave Syria.

He stressed that the United States will not give up any region in Syria, and will continue to fly in the western part of the country in missions against Daesh.

For its part, the Russian Hmeimim base in Syria expressed “concern” about the international coalition’s actions in Syria, saying they threaten civilian aviation and accused the American forces of deliberately colliding with Russian jets.

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