For two consecutive days, the US military once again hyped up that US drones were intercepted by Russian fighters in Syrian airspace.
According to CNN on July 6, Lieutenant General Alex Greenkovich, commander of the US Air Force Central Command, announced that at about 9:30 a.m. local time on the 6th in Syria, Russian Su-35 fighters had a dangerous interaction with the US MQ-9 UAV performing the mission of fighting the "Islamic State". Greenkovich accused the Russian Su-35 fighter of dangerously approaching the MQ-9 drone and threw flares in front of the drone, forcing the drone to take evasive maneuvers.
Greenkovich said that this is the second time in the past 24 hours that Russian fighters have taken dangerous actions against US drones. According to reports, on July 5, Russian Su-35 fighters had a close aerial encounter with three US MQ-9 UAVs.
Colonel Michael Andrews, spokesman for the US Air Force Central Command, said that in the contact on the 6th, the two fighters of the Russian army had a "continuous" and "unprofessional" interaction with the US drone for nearly an hour.
CNN said that on July 6, Russian warplanes also took action against military aircraft of other countries in Syrian airspace.
According to reports, the French military said on its official Twitter account that on the 6th, a Russian Su-35 fighter had "non-professional interaction" with two French "Rafale" fighters operating near the Iraq-Syria border. The French military said that in order to avoid accidents, French fighters took evasive maneuvers.
CNN said that for the past few years, both the United States and Russia have operated in Syrian airspace, and the two sides have reached some tacit agreement to avoid accidental mistakes or encounters that could inadvertently escalate the conflict.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the United States has stationed about 900 US troops in southern and northeastern Syria in the name of assisting Syrian Kurdish armed forces in fighting the extremist group "Islamic State" and "protecting oil fields". The United States has repeatedly attacked targets in Syria on the pretext of attacking armed groups linked to Iran. The Syrian government accused the US military of violating Syrian sovereignty, illegally occupying Syrian territory, frequently stealing Syrian oil and looting food.
Source: Global Times New Media