U.S. Shoots Down Pro-Government Drone
An American fighter jet downed an “Iranian-made” drone in southern Syria Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
The attack marks the third time this month that coalition warplanes have shot down a pro-Syrian government aircraft.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that the armed drone was shot down “after it displayed hostile intent” while approaching coalition forces stationed within a protected de-escalation zone around the Tanf base, in southeastern Syria.
The area, which is used by U.S. special forces to train Syrian rebel groups for future campaigns against the so-called Islamic State, has emerged as the latest battleground between U.S.-backed forces and Iranian-sponsored supporters of the Syrian government.
Regime Resumes Aerial Campaign on Daraa
Pro-government forces launched a series of airstrikes and artillery attacks on the southern city of Daraa Tuesday, marking the end of a two-day cease-fire, the Associated Press reported.
The Syrian army said it would suspend combat operations in Daraa for 48 hours on Saturday, after U.S. and Russian officials agreed on a cease-fire deal during a round of secret talks on creating a “de-escalation zone” in southwestern Syria that would include Daraa.
Hostilities resumed Tuesday as government troops captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the AP reported.
The monitoring group said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.
The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area looks to be heading to the Jordanian border.
Pro-Government Forces Launch Offensive in Eastern Syria
Syrian troops and their allied forces launched a new offensive against Western-backed Syrian rebels in the country’s eastern desert region Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Hundreds of troops, backed by Russian airstrikes, pushed into the Bir Qassab area, located 45 miles (75km) southeast of Damascus, toward an eastern desert region near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders known as the Syrian Badia.
Bir Qassab, a former ISIS stronghold, fell to Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels after ISIS militants retreated from the town a few months ago.
“The (Syrian) regime and militia ground attack started this dawn and our forces are holding on to their positions,” Saad al-Haj, spokesman for Osoud al-Sharqiya, one of the area’s largest rebel groups, told Reuters Tuesday.
“With (the help of) intensive Russian bombing they are trying to advance but we are repelling them,” he said.
Tuesday’s government offensive is part of a major campaign to recapture full control of the vast Syrian Badia and swathes of territory vacated by ISIS militants in eastern Syria.
Recommended Reads:
- The Associated Press: Syria Troops Position Themselves at Heart of War on I.S.
- The Atlantic: Donald Trump No Longer Wants to ‘Stay Out’ of Syria
- Newsweek: Is Russia Ready to Fire at U.S. Military Jets in Syria?
- The Independent: The U.S. Seems Keener to Strike at Syria’s Assad Than It Does to Destroy ISIS
- Reuters: In the Kitchen, ‘We’re All Human’: Refugee Cooks Up Taste of Syria in Athens