ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.
F-35 stealth fighter jets of the United States-led coalition continue to harass Russian warplanes over Syria, causing escalation and creating conditions for aerial incidents.
Counter Admiral Vadim Kulit, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, announced during a briefing on August 25 that two F-35s of the coalition made a dangerous approach towards Su-35 fighter jets of the Russian Aerospace Forces over the war-torn country.
“At 9:32 a.m. on August 25, a pair of the coalition’s F-35 fighter jets dangerously approached a Russian Su-35 plane making a planned flight along Syria’s southern border at an altitude of about 6,500 meters in the al-Tanf area,” the commander said.
Kulit added that the Russian pilot demonstrated high professionalism and took timely measures to prevent a collision with coalition warplanes.
The commander revealed during the same briefing that coalition fighter jets and drones violated Syrian airspace over the southeastern areas of al-Tanf, across which international air routes run, 17 times over the past day.
He also noted that the coalition’s drones violated deconfliction protocols 11 times during the same day by carrying out flights over Syria without coordinating with the Russian military group in the country.
Tensions between the U.S.-led coalition and the Russian military group in Syria have been mounting for the last two months.
Just a day earlier, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria reported an incident during which an F-16 fighter jet of the coalition made a dangerous pass near a Russian Su-35 over al-Tanf.
The U.S.-led coalition maintains a garrison in al-Tanf with a 55-kilometer no-fly zone that was not authorized by the United Nations or approved by the Syrian government. The coalition also operates without any authorization over the northeastern governorates of Deir Ezzor and al-Hasakah, where it maintains a network of bases at key oil and gas fields.
Washington claims that its troops and allies are present in Syria to counter ISIS. However, the main task of the coalition appears to be to challenge the legitimacy of the Syrian government and provoked its allies, whether it is the Russian military or Iranian-backed forces.
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