US aircraft jet
The US aircraft managed to make its way back to its home base, the US army said in a statement
The US military said in a statement on 25 July that a Russian warplane flew "dangerously" close to one of its jets in Syria, firing flares which allegedly hit the US plane's propeller.

"The Russian jet flew dangerously close to the US aircraft and deployed flares in its path which struck the propeller," US CENTCOM said in a statement via Twitter.

"Russian unsafe and unprofessional behavior in the air not only degrades our Defeat ISIS mission, it risks unintended escalation and miscalculation," the statement added.


Comment: Lest we forget that Russia was invited to come and operate in Syria, to help counter the Western-backed terrorists, meanwhile the US is there, illegally occupying 30% of the country; in addition, whilst there it's also been stealing Syria's oil, totaling $107.1 billion since the 2011 invasion.



"One of the Russian flares struck the U.S. MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller. Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base ... We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior," the US air force said in a separate statement.

The incident comes as Washington has made repeated complaints recently about what it says are provocative Russian actions in Syria.

US officials said on 17 July that a Russian jet recently flew "very close" to a US surveillance aircraft, "putting the lives of the four American crew members in danger."

It also comes as US occupation forces continue to reinforce their presence in Syria, particularly in areas where their military bases have been struck in Iranian-linked drone and missile attacks. The frequency of these attacks rose significantly over the past year, and have resulted in many US casualties.

In mid-July, an anonymous, high-ranking US military official was quoted as saying that Russian and Iranian forces in Syria have been coordinating with the specific aim of forcing Washington's troops to eventually withdraw from the country.

Months earlier, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that there is "undeclared Russian-Iranian coordination to escalate against the US presence in Syria, to pressure the US and force it to decide to withdraw from its bases in the north and east of the country."

According to a Turkish media report released recently, Washington now intends to reinforce its presence in Syria with an additional 2,500 troops.