In Syria’s Skies, Close Calls With Russian Warplanes<br />8, 2017<br />AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar — Russian fighter jets have flown dangerously close to American warplanes in eastern Syria over the past month — including one near-collision — in what American<br />officials say is a pattern of daily Russian violations of an agreement to separate rival forces converging on the last main pocket of Islamic State militants in the country.<br />Every day, an American Air Force officer calls his Russian counterpart at an air base in Latakia,<br />Syria, to head off, or "deconflict," as the military says, any potential problems over Syria.<br />"The greatest concern is that we could shoot down a Russian aircraft because its actions are seen as a threat to our air or ground forces." The setting was similar last June in southern Syria, when American warplanes shot down a Syrian Air Force Su-22<br />and two Iranian-made drones after they had threatened American-backed militia forces.<br />President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared on Wednesday<br />that the Islamic State in eastern Syria had suffered a "complete defeat" — a boast that American officials said exaggerated Moscow’s role and seemed to ignore the contentious efforts to rout the remaining 3,000 Islamic State disciples still on the run.<br />The Air Force pilots showed restraint, but given that the actions of the Su-24 could have reasonably been interpreted as threatening to<br />the American aircraft, the F-22 pilots would have been with their rights to fire in self-defense, officials at the Qatar air base said.<br />Syria said that There’s risk there,<br />Syrian Army troops backed by Russian air power and Iranian militia are advancing along the western side of the river; Syrian Arab<br />and Kurdish fighters, supported by American warplanes and Special Operations advisers, are pushing along the eastern river banks.
