Pentagon confirms downing Turkish drone over Syria
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The Pentagon confirms earlier reports saying it downed a Turkish UAV over Syria after the latter reportedly entered a restricted military zone established by the occupying US forces.
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An ANKA drone developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries is presented at the Paris Air Show on June 21, 2023, in Le Bourget, north of Paris (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
US F-16 warplanes intercepted and shot down a Turkish drone over northeast Syria, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The drone, which belonged to NATO ally Turkey, was perceived as a potential threat to American forces stationed in Syria, the Pentagon said, prompting numerous questions about relations between the supposed allies.
There were reports earlier in the day about the incident, but the whole thing was mere speculation.
The Wall Street Journal said earlier that a US fighter shot down a Turkish UAV flying overhead in Turkey.
Syria: remains of the Turkish (Anka) drone shot down today by US over Hasakah province. This is the first time ever US attacked an Ankara air asset, arguing UAV was a threat to their forces. pic.twitter.com/XG3WnjhRN4
— QalaatM (@QalaatM) October 5, 2023
But the Turkish Defense Ministry has denied that the drone was one of its own, according to US media reports.
The encounter took place amidst heightened tensions in the area as Turkey carried out airstrikes against Kurdish forces responding to a suicide bombing in Ankara earlier in the week, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
It is worth noting that Turkish forces occasionally target areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern and northeastern Syria.
The PKK has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
ROZ violated
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters that US military personnel had observed drones conducting airstrikes in northeast Syria, some of them within a "restricted operating zone" (ROZ) near Hasakah.
The ROZ in question was situated approximately one kilometer (less than a mile) from US troops who were part of the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) group.
Earlier today, a Turkish drone targeted an SDF military site on Thursday in the village of Mashirfa Al-Hammah on the Hassakeh - Tal Tamr road resulting in several casualties, Al Mayadeen's correspondent to northeast Syria reported.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 5, 2023
An American F-16 fighter jet just shot down a Turkish Anka-S drone over Syria after it was deemed a threat to U.S. forces in the area.
The drone had earlier bombed SDF (Kurdish) positions.
It's the first time ever that the U.S. shoots down a Turkish aircraft pic.twitter.com/NRjFdae0kD
Later in the day, a Turkish drone re-entered the ROZ, approaching US forces, Ryder explained.
"US commanders assessed that the UAV, which was now less than a half kilometer from US forces, to be a potential threat, and US F-16 fighters subsequently shot down the UAV in self-defense."
Turkey bombs SDF sites
Later, sources to Al Mayadeen indicated that another SDF military site was targeted by a Turkish drone in the same area resulting in significant material damage to the site which served as an important SDF military facility. Furthermore, it was reported that two Turkish drones targeted SDF sites in Tel Habbash and Sdad Al-Jawadiyah in al-Hasakah.
The sources also mentioned that the SDF evacuated its positions and headquarters inside the Al-Omar oil field in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.
Ankara views the so-called People's Protection Units, which dominate the SDF, as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it classifies as a "terrorist group."
Read more: Normalization with Turkey impossible until it withdraws troops: Syria
The United States has about 1,000 occupation soldiers deployed in Syria under the guise of fighting ISIS, though those were defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintain hideouts in remote desert areas intersecting with the US occupation zone in Al-Tanf, southeast of Syria.
Using this pretext, the United States is plundering Syria's resources, most notably oil. Syrian news agencies repeatedly report incidents of US occupation forces looting new batches of Syrian oil and smuggling them to their occupation bases in Iraq.
Read more: US CJCS uses alleged ISIS threat to justify US occupation of Syria
It is noteworthy that in August 2022, the Syrian Oil Ministry revealed that the US occupation forces loot the majority of Syria's oil, knowing that the daily production of the eastern oil fields is 80.3 thousand barrels.
The United States has been for years supporting the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militias, and the US-backed forces are currently occupying parts of the provinces of al-Hasakah, Deir Ezzor, and Raqqa, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.
US troops claim to be occupying the area in order to rid the region of terrorists, yet the US has strategically implanted itself there for the purposes of stealing Syria's natural resources, as well as destabilizing President Bashar al-Assad's government.
In December of 2022, Syria's Foreign Ministry said the US occupation forces and their affiliated military groups' systematic lootings of Syrian oil, wheat, and other national resources have amounted to direct losses valued at $25.9 billion and indirect losses valued at over $86 billion.
The Ministry then demanded the UN to once again adopt urgent steps to cease the violation of international law by the US and its allies and ensure compensation for these violations.
