US jet shoots down Turkish drone in Syria - Pentagon

WASHINGTON/ANKARA: The US on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near its troops in Syria, the Pentagon said, the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of NATO ally Turkiye.

A Turkish defense ministry official said the drone that was shot down did not belong to the Turkish armed forces, but did not say whose property it was.

Turkiye’s National Intelligence Agency carried out strikes in Syria against Kurdish militant targets after a bomb attack in Ankara last weekend, a Turkish security source said on Thursday.

On Thursday night, Turkish military air strikes destroyed 30 Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria, including an oil well, a storage facility and shelters, and “neutralised” many militants, the Turkish defence ministry said.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Turkish drones had been seen carrying out airstrikes in Hasakah, Syria, on Thursday morning about 1 km away from US troops. A few hours later a Turkish drone came within less than a half a kilometer (0.3 miles) of US troops and was deemed a threat and shot down by F-16 aircraft.

“We have no indication that the Turkey was intentionally targeting U.S. forces,” Ryder told reporters.

Read more: Over 60 killed in drone attack on Syrian military academy

Hasakah is in northeastern Syria and the mainly Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) is the spearhead of the main ally of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, also called Daesh.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Turkish counterpart, a call Ryder said was “fruitful.”

The Turkish Defense Ministry said on social media platform X that its minister Yasar Guler had told Austin that “Turkey is ready for a joint fight with the USA against Daesh.”

“Both Ministers emphasized the importance of close coordination of US and Turkish elements in activities carried out in the region,” it added.

US-Turkish relations are in a delicate moment, with the United States hoping Turkey will ratify NATO membership for Sweden.

While the United States has not shot down a Turkish aircraft before, tensions have flared and there have been close calls. In 2019, US troops in northern Syria came under artillery fire from Turkish positions.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, spoke with his Turkish counterpart and discussed “the need to follow common deconfliction protocols to ensure the safety of our personnel in Syria,” the US military said in a statement.