Pentagon blames Russia for dangerously close encounter between aircraft over Syria
Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon spoke about the dangerous encounter between Russian and American planes in the air over Syria, RIA Novosti reports.
He commented that Russian and US planes had come close to each other near the Syrian city of Abu Kamal, and had remained so for roughly 40 minutes.
“At one point a Su-25 came quite close to an F-22, and it needed to maneuver intensely in order to avoid a collision in the air,” Pahon noted.
The Pentagon spokesperson said that Russian planes fly in the US-controlled zone of Syria six to eight times per day.
The news agency’s source pointed out that the US coalition is seriously concerned by the possibility of shooting down a Russian plane, if it constitutes a threat to its air or ground forces.
Earlier the media reported that two F-22s “intercepted” two Russian Su-25 planes, when the latter crossed the “de-confliction line”.
Later, the press center of the US Central Command reported that on December 13, Russian and American planes had come into close contact in Syrian airspace, although the situation was not critical.
US Air Force pilots have reported multiple dangerous close encounters with Russian Aerospace Forces planes in Syria.