Syria: US fighter shoots down armed Turkish drone that strayed "too close" to American ground forces while a separate drone attack kills "at least" 80 people at military college graduation

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

US shoots down armed Turkish drone after it came too close to US troops in Syria

APNEWS.COM

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The Pentagon says the U.S. military shot down an armed Turkish drone that came within 500 meters of American troops in northeastern Syria.

 

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The Pentagon said Thursday the U.S. military shot down an armed Turkish drone that came within 500 meters (yards) of American troops in northeastern Syria, in a rare use of force by one NATO member against another.

 

Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, called it a “regrettable incident” and said U.S. troops were forced to go to bunkers for safety as Turkey bombed targets nearby.

 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Turkish counterpart and stressed the importance of close coordination between their two countries to prevent any risk to American forces or to the global coalition’s mission to defeat Islamic State militants in the region, Ryder said.

 

“The decision was made out due diligence and the inherent right of self-defense to take appropriate action to protect U.S. forces,” Ryder said, adding that “we have no indication that Turkey was intentionally targeting U.S. forces.”

 

U.S. officials earlier told The Associated Press the shootdown was ordered after more than a dozen calls to Turkish military officials stating that U.S. forces were on the ground in the area and that the U.S. military would take action to protect them if the drone didn’t leave. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of a sensitive military incident.

 

Ryder said U.S. forces observed Turkish drones doing airstrikes around Hasakah at about 7:30 a.m. local time, and some strikes were inside a so-called American “restricted operating zone” just a kilometer (about a half mile) from U.S. troops. He said a bit later a Turkish drone re-entered the restricted area “on a heading toward where U.S. forces were located.”

 

 

 

Drone attack kills 80 and wounds 240 at a packed Syrian military graduation ceremony, official says

APNEWS.COM

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Syria’s health minister says a drone attack that hit a packed military graduation ceremony in the central city of Homs has killed 80 and wounded 240.

 

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A drone attack hit a crowded military graduation ceremony Thursday in the Syrian city of Homs, killing 80 people and wounding 240, the health minister said, in one of the deadliest attacks on the war-torn country’s army in years.

 

The strike killed civilians, including six children, as well as military personnel, and there were concerns the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in serious condition, Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash said.

 

Syria’s military said in an earlier statement that drones laden with explosives targeted the ceremony packed with young officers and their families as it was wrapping up. It accused insurgents “backed by known international forces” of the attack, without naming any particular group, and said “it will respond with full force and decisiveness to these terrorist organizations, wherever they exist.”

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

Er...why is Turkey targeting Syrian military graduations? 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

7 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Er...why is Turkey targeting Syrian military graduations? 

 

It probably wasn't a Turkish drone that hit the Syrian military graduation.  It was more than likely from the Islamic State or Free Syrian Army.

[CitizenVectron]

Ah that makes more sense!