US downs Syria warplane
♦ MOSCOW HALTS HOTLINE WITH US
♦ IRAN LAUNCHES MISSILES AT IS POSITIONS
Russia yesterday warned it would track US-led coalition aircraft in central Syria as "targets" and halted an incident-prevention hotline with Washington after US forces downed a Syrian jet.
Moscow has only once before suspended the hotline, which was established in October 2015 to prevent conflict between the different forces operating in Syrian airspace.
The shootdown incident and Russia's response further complicate Syria's six-year war and come as the US-led coalition and allied fighters battle to oust the Islamic State group from its Syrian bastion Raqa.
Russia's foreign ministry accused Washington of failing to use the hotline before downing the plane near Raqa, and called for a "careful investigation by the US command" into the incident.
"Any flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, discovered west of the Euphrates river will be tracked as aerial targets by Russia's air defences on and above ground," it warned.
The Syrian jet was shot down on Sunday evening after regime forces engaged fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The American F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down the Syrian SU-22 around 7:00 pm as it "dropped bombs near SDF fighters" south of the town of Tabqa.
Syria's army disputed the account, saying its plane was hit while "conducting a mission against the terrorist Islamic State group."
It warned of "the grave consequences of this flagrant aggression".
Iran has targeted jihadists in Syria with missiles in retaliation for deadly attacks in Tehran, but the strike was also a message to its regional rivals and Washington, experts say.
Late Sunday, the elite Revolutionary Guards launched six missiles from western Iran into Syria's mostly Islamic State group-held Deir Ezzor province, hitting an IS command base, the Guards said.
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