United States strikes pro-govt forces in Syria, shoots down drone

He only described it as one similar to a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone.

It’s not known whether that was the drone shot down by the U.S. Thursday.

Earlier in the day, coalition warplanes destroyed two trucks mounted with machine guns that were advancing toward the Tanf garrison.

On Wednesday, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, issued a warning that it would strike US positions if coalition forces crossed any “redlines” in Syria, according to AP.

The Pentagon is not sure Iranian military piloted the aircraft.

No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred near the coalition’s At-Tanaf garrison close to the Jordanian border, spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon told Pentagon reporters.

The US military has again struck at the Syrian army in Syria.

Dillon said there were no coalition casualties.

Syrian military forces loyal to embattled President Assad ignored warnings about approaching a small U.S. base that houses its Special Operations Forces this week and was hit by a US-led airstrike. Additionally, he said, USA aircraft have dropped thousands of leaflets over the contingents of government troops encamped in the desert around Tanf telling them to halt their advance and leave the area. The rebels also want to overthrow Syria’s government, even though the two sides share a common enemy in Islamic State.

U.S. Navy F-18 Hornet aircraft fly in support of Iraq. If they manage to take the oil-rich city and Abu Kamal, these troops hope to create a shadow buffer between Deir ez-Zor and the city of Homs, preventing its penetration by either ISIS or Hezbollah. The United States and other anti-Islamic State coalition nations use the base to train Syrian rebels to fight the terrorist group.

“Today was the third set of kinetic strikes the USA conducted in response to threats posed to Coalition forces operating out of At Tanf”.

“Our patrols were in the opposite direction of where the regime forces were”, Dillon said.

Russian Federation is fighting for Assad and has considerable sway over the various forces on the battlefield. He said tensions have eased, though the Iran-backed forces had not moved from the area near Tanf. It was a matter of who will reach the Iraqi-Syrian border first, he added.

Prior to that, the USA on May 18 bombed what were described as pro-Syrian government and Iranian-backed forces after they appeared to establish a firebase for artillery units inside the zone. Assad is also backed by Iran and Shi’ite militias. It was carrying several weapons at the time of the strike. The speed and ferocity of the Syrian government’s offensive caught US contingents in the #Syria off-guard.

The Russian and USA militaries have set up a special hotline to communicate about troop and plane movements over a crowded battle space, and the two sides regularly talk to avoid mishaps and ensure they are not operating in each others’ space.

They reached a point almost 50 km north of al-Tanf, after going through the desert around the area held by US -backed rebels, it said.