U.S. Ramping Up Confrontation With Russia in Syria
Russia claims U.S. F-16's targeting system homed in on aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to a report.
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Russia says a U.S. F-16 fighter jet used its "guidance systems” to home in on a plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces last week over Syria as tensions between the two countries increase in the region amid the Ukraine War.
Rear Adm. Oleg Gurinov, the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the opposing parties in Syria, told Tass, the Russian news outlet, that there have been 10 violations in Syrian airspace, committed by four pairs of F-16 fighters and one pair of Rafale fighters of the ‘coalition.’ He said these violations occurred in the Al Tanf zone, “an area where international air traffic routes are located.”
He said the F-16 used its guidance systems on the Russian plane that was performing a scheduled flight along the southern border of the Syrian Arab Republic.
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The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from The Trends Journal.
The U.S. is considering military options to respond to alleged acts of aggression by Russian fighter pilots over Syria, reports said last week.
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The comments were made by a senior U.S. official and first reported by the Associated Press. The tactics being employed by Russia will not change the objective of the U.S.’s mission in the country—which the official said is to carry out airstrikes against remaining ISIS fighters in the western region of the war-torn country.
The most recent incidents included Russian jets intercepting another U.S. Reaper drone and the flight of a Russian drone over al-Tanf, the U.S. garrison in the country. The Pentagon believed the drone mission was to collect intelligence on the base. The U.S. was unable to intercept the Russian drone because there were not enough air assets, according to reports.
“We’re supposed to stay about three nautical miles away from each other’s aircraft all the time, and they were well inside of that,” the official said, according to CNN. “So, I judge that as unprofessional because they’re not following the established rules that we have for aviation operations. But it was not reckless, like some of the previous intercepts.”
The official said there is evidence of operational-level planning between mid-level [Iranian] Quds Force leadership that’s operating in Syria, Russian forces that are operating in Syria—kind of the same basic level, mid-level to upper echelon. And then with the Syrian regime, of course, we know they’re very tightly tied with the Russians,” according to Breaking Defense.
Syria, Iran, and Russia seem to be cooperating very closely in the region and represent a “triumvirate,” the official said.
TRENDPOST: Last spring, we reported on how the U.S. accused the Russian Air Force of trying to “dogfight” American pilots over Syria, and have continually noted that the U.S. has illegally invaded Syria while Russia was invited into the country by Syrian President Assad.
U.S. troops have been in Syria since 2015 with the mandate to assist local forces in the fight against ISIS. There are about 900 U.S. troops currently stationed in Syria and an unknown number of mercenaries.
Tensions with the U.S. have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an incident over the Black Sea that involved a Russian fighter downing a U.S. drone.
As Gerald Celente has been stating since America’s illegal invasion of Iraq, based on lies that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction, “Do you think America would invade if Iraq’s major export was broccoli?” The same with Syria and Libya… it’s all about oil and U.S. geopolitical hegemony.
The United States has no right to be in Syria, a foreign nation that is no threat and has made no threats to America. On the other hand, the ruling president of Syria has invited the Russians into his country to fight against the U.S.-backed rebel faction.
It also should be noted the initial reason given for U.S. military presence in Syria was not fighting ISIS, but rather President Barack Obama, The Nobel Peace Prize winner, demanded that its president, Bashar al-Assad, had to go.
Yet, the American media and the public join against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while they champion Washington’s foreign entanglements.
The U.S. official who spoke about the warming relationship between Syria, Russia, and Iran, said he has evidence that supports his theory that there is interest among these countries to “push us out of Syria, to put a pressure campaign on us to have us leave.”
“Frankly, [it’s] the same sorts of things that we would do with our partners in the face of something we were trying to accomplish,” the official said. “We see them doing that on their side, as they try to think about how they sync the different things that different arms of them are doing in order to put that pressure on us.”
Washington has shown no signs of relenting. Al Monitor, citing a senior U.S. military official, reported that the Pentagon deployed stealth F-22 fighter jets to the region to counter the Russian aggression.
It is worth noting that the U.S. official said Russia sends its military officers who failed in Ukraine to Syria—and most of these generals have something to prove. That’s the difference between the U.S. and Russia. Failed American generals get hired by think tanks and become “military analysts” on CNN and Fox News.