ANY AIRCRAFT OF US-LED COALITION DISCOVERED WEST OF EUPHRATES RIVER WILL BE FOLLOWED BY RUSSIAN AIR AND GROUND DEFENSES AS TARGETS

19.06.2017

Russian military ‘to track coalition jets as targets in Syria’: Ministry of Defense

ANY AIRCRAFT OF US-LED COALITION DISCOVERED WEST OF EUPHRATES RIVER WILL BE FOLLOWED BY RUSSIAN AIR AND GROUND DEFENSES AS TARGETS

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the US aviation attack in Syrian airspace may be considered an “act of aggression,” and announced that it halts is halting all interactions with the US within the framework on the memorandum of incident prevention in Syrian skies.

Now, Russian missile defense will follow any aircraft of the US-led coalition west of the Euphrates River.

“In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying objects, including jets and unmanned aerial vehicles of the international coalition discovered west of the Euphrates River will be followed by Russian air and ground defenses as air targets,” the ministry announced.

The Russian military added that the US-led coalition command didn’t make an attempt to avoid the incident via the deconfliction channel with Russia.

“We consider such actions of the US command as an intentional violation of its obligations in the framework of the memo on avoiding incidents and the safety of aviation flights during operations in Syria signed on October 20, 2015.”

According to the ministry, the US action against the Syrian Air Force is an act of military aggression against the sovereign state.

“The repeated hostilities of US aviation against the legitimate armed forces of a UN member state under the guise of ‘combating terrorism’ are a gross violation of the international law and de facto a military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.“

On June 18, the US-led coalition downed a Syrian Air Force Su-22 jet in the western part of the Raqqah province. The Su-22 was fulfilling its mission against ISIS.