Updated Jun 20
The US-led Coalition confirmed in a statement on Sunday, June 18, that a US F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near SDF fighters.
The statement said that at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time, pro-Syrian regime forces attacked Ja’Din, wounding several people and forcing the SDF to leave the town. Coalition aircraft then conducted a show of force stopping the initial pro-regime advance, and the Coalition contacted its Russian counterparts using the established de-confliction line.
“At 6:43 p.m., a Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet.”
CJTF-OIR statement
According to CNN’s Lucas Fox, the US plane was launched from the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush in the Mediterranean sea.
On June 19, CBS’s Mary Walsh reported that the US aircraft fired two missiles at a range of 1km (0.6 miles). The second hit its target.
Update June 20
At a June 20 briefing, Pentagon spokesperson Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said: “There was an incident earlier in the day where regime tanks, artillery, technical vehicles and soldiers were advancing toward SDF forces that were holding the towns of Jadin and Shuwayhan,”
“There had been multiple communications through the deconfliction line.”
Davis said US aircraft conducted a show of force, including strafing runs near the regime positions. This action stopped the regime advance.
“That was when they saw the SU-22 approaching and it was carrying ordnance,” Davis said. “They did everything they could to try to warn it away, … but ultimately the SU-22 went into a dive and was observed dropping munitions and was subsequently shot down.”
The Coalition statement says Ja’Din is approximately 2km (1.2 miles) north of an established SDF-Syrian government de-confliction area.
.@CJTFOIR confirms a US F/A-18E shot down a Syrian Su-22 near Raqqa today after it dropped bombs near SDF fighters pic.twitter.com/y3vdCtWf3X
— Fergus Kelly (@ferguskelly) June 18, 2017
The shooting down of the Syrian aircraft comes just 10 days after US aircraft shot down a pro-regime drone near At Tanf in southern Syria. Sunday’s strike is believed to be the US military’s first air-to-air kill involving manned fighter aircraft since 1999, when an F-16 shot down a Serbian MiG-29 in Kosovo.
Earlier, the Syrian Ministry of Defence said in statement that the US-led Coalition shot down one of its jets near Rusafa, south of Raqqa. The statement said the aircraft’s pilot was missing, and warned of serious repercussions after “this blatant assault on the fight against terrorism.”
Abdulkarim Omar tweeted that the aircraft was shot down after it targeted SDF fighters in the Tabqa area. Omar is the Co-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Jazira Canton in the SDF-controlled region of Northern Syria.
International coalition drops a military aircraft to the Syrian regime in the Raqqa after bombing the sites of S D Forces In the Tabqa area
— Dr Abdulkarim Omar (@abdulkarimomar1) June 18, 2017
Local journalist Mohammed Hassan says there are clashes between the SDF and Syrian regime forces near Tabqa.
there are clashes between the Syrian regime and SDF around Tabqa
— MOHAMMED HASSAN (@MHJournalist) June 18, 2017
#BREAKING
Heavy Clashes between #SDF & Syrian regime pro-militias north-western #Rasafah.
South-western #Raqqa.— pyd rojava (@PYD_Rojava) June 18, 2017
Heavy clashes right now between the Syrian Army and SDF near Resafa. Syrian Army is trying to rescue its pilot; SDF blocking route.
— Leith Abou Fadel (@leithfadel) June 18, 2017
Pro-regime forces are advancing rapidly to the south of Raqqa and Tabqa, in an apparent attempt to take control of the area’s oil fields.
The Syrian Army is going to take Resafa and its oil fields. Those belong to Syria, not America.
— Leith Abou Fadel (@leithfadel) June 18, 2017
https://www.grasswirenews.com/2017/06/syria-us-shoots-pro-regime-drone-attacked-coalition-forces-near-tanf/
https://www.grasswirenews.com/2017/06/syria-us-led-coalition-isis-destroys-pro-regime-forces-near-tanf/
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