IN this April 30, 2017, file photo provided by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) shows fighters from the SDF looking toward the northern town of Tabqa, Syria. The U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a written statement that a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 on Sunday, June 18, after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. The shootdown was near the Syrian town of Tabqa. | Photo Credit:
AP
http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...owning-syrian-fighter-jet/article19103703.ece
A top Russian diplomat on Monday condemned the United States for shooting down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet the previous day as an act of “aggression,” while U.S.-backed opposition forces on the ground warned Syrian government troops to stop their attacks or face retaliation.
The U.S. military confirmed a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian SU-22 on Sunday, after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. SDF fighters are aligned with the Americans in the campaign against the Islamic State group.
Russia has been a staunch supporter of Syria’s beleaguered President Bashar Assad and has been providing an air cover for his offensive against IS since 2015.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in comments to Russian news agencies, compared the downing to “helping the terrorists that the U.S. is fighting against.”
“What is this, if not an act of aggression,” he asked.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed opposition fighters said Assad’s forces have been attacking their positions in the northern province of Raqqa and warned that if such attacks continue, the fighters will take action.
Clashes between Syrian troops and SDF would escalate tensions in the country and open a new front line in the many complex battlefields of the civil war, now in its seventh year. Clashes between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syrian forces have been rare and some rebel groups have even accused them of coordinating on the battlefield.
The clashes come as both sides are fighting against the Islamic State group, with SDF fighters now focusing on their march into the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS.
Government forces have also been attacking IS in northern, central and southern Syria, seizing 25,000 square kilometers (9,600 square miles) and reaching the Iraqi border for the first time in years.
SDF spokesman Talal Sillo said the government aims to thwart the SDF offensive to capture the city of Raqqa. He said government forces began attacking SDF on Saturday, using warplanes, artillery and tanks in areas that SDF had liberated from IS.
Mr. Sillo also warned that if “the regime continues in its offensive against our positions in Raqqa province, this will force us to retaliate with force.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria’s war, said government forced captured from IS on Monday the town of Rasafa, expanding their presence in Raqqa province.
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...militants-a-wider-warning/article19103400.ece
A still image taken from a footage shot on Sunday and broadcasted on Iranian Television IRINN, purports to show missiles being fired from Iran into eastern Syria. IRINN/ via Reuters | Photo Credit:
Reuters
It adds new tensions in a region already unsettled by a long-running feud between Shia power Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s ballistic missile strike targeting the Islamic State group in Syria served both as revenge for attacks on Tehran earlier this month and a warning that Iran could strike Saudi Arabia and U.S. interests in the Mideast, an Iranian general said on Monday.
The launch, which hit Syria’s eastern city of Deir el-Zour on Sunday night, appeared to be Iran’s first missile attack abroad in over 15 years and its first in the Syrian conflict amid its support of embattled President Bashar Assad.
It adds new tensions in a region already unsettled by a long-running feud between Shia power Iran and the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as a campaign by Arab nations against Qatar.
It also raises questions about how U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, which already said it put Iran “on notice” for its ballistic missile tests, will respond.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country’s missile program, s
aid it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan. State television footage showed the missiles on truck missile launchers in the daylight before being launched at night.
The missiles flew over Iraq before striking what the Guard called an Islamic State command center and suicide car bomb operation in Deir el-Zour, over 600 km away. The extremists have been trying to fortify their positions in the Syrian city in the face of a U.S.-led coalition onslaught on Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital.
Activists in Syria said they had no immediate information on damage or casualties from the strikes, nor did the Islamic State group immediately acknowledge it. The Guard released black-and-white footage it said came from a drone showing the strikes, a column of thick black smoke rising into the sky after the attack.
The Guard described the missile strike as revenge for attacks on Tehran earlier this month. Five Islamic State-linked attackers stormed Iran’s parliament and a shrine to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on June 7, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 50. That Islamic State assault, the first to hit Iran, shook residents who believed the chaos engulfing the rest of the Middle East would not find them.
But the missiles sent a message to more than just the extremists in Iraq and Syria, Gen. Ramazan Sharif of the Guard told state television in a telephone interview.
“The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message,” he said. “Obviously and clearly, some reactionary countries of the region, especially Saudi Arabia, had announced that they are trying to bring insecurity into Iran.”
The Zolfaghar missile, unveiled in September 2016, was described at the time as carrying a cluster warhead and being able to strike as far as 700 km away.
That puts the missile in range of the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command in Qatar, American bases in the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The missile also could strike Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. While Iran has other ballistic missiles it says can reach longer distances, Sunday night’s launch appears to mark the longest strike it has launched abroad. Iran’s last foreign missile strike is believed to have been carried out in April 2001, targeting an Iranian exile group in Iraq.
Iran has described the Tehran attackers as being “long affiliated with the Wahhabi,” an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. However, it stopped short of directly blaming the kingdom for the attack, though many in the country have expressed suspicion that Iran’s regional rival had a hand in the assault.
Emboldened Sunni Arab states backed by Mr. Trump have hardened their stance against Iran. Since Mr. Trump took office, his administration has put new economic sanctions on those allegedly involved with the program. However, the test launches haven’t affect Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Sunday’s launch also carried religious undertones.
The Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the launch “Operation Laylat al-Qadar,” referring to the night Muslims believe the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. That’s believed to fall in the last 10 days of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, now underway. The name of the missile, Zolfaghar, is also the name of the sword used by Imam Ali, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and his successor, according to Shia belief.
Israel also remains concerned about Iran’s missile launches and has deployed a multilayered missile-defense system over fears of potential Iranian attacks. When Iran unveiled the Zolfaghar in 2016, it bore a banner printed with a 2013 anti-Israeli quote by Ayatollah Khamenei saying that Iran will annihilate the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa should Israel attack Iran.
Israeli security officials said on Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.