Escalation in Syria: US Shoots Down Iranian Drone

from Russia Insider:

The US has decided that its self-declared “de-confliction zone” in southeastern Syria is under grave threat—and that any aircraft approaching it must be annihilated.

This is basically the reason the Pentagon gave for downing an Iranian-made armed drone “just outside” the 55 kilometer “de-confliction zone” around al-Tanf.

So much for de-escalation in Syria.

First on CNN: US F-15 shot down a 2nd Iranian made drone near At Tanf, Syria Monday. Armed drone was assessed to pose a threat to US forces

— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) June 20, 2017

Not surprisingly, the US seems to blame Russia for the incident, suggesting that the deconfliction line is necessary to prevent the US from shooting down drones outside its self-declared zone of control:

The good news is that nobody was hurt. The bad news is that the US is occupying southeastern Syria and apparently feels perfectly comfortable blasting anything out of the sky that comes near them.

Hardly reassuring. And the perfect recipe for serious escalation.

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