KABUL: (Middle East Press) The Syrian military has shot down a US drone over the coastal province of Latakia near a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, According to Syrian state media.
“Syrian air defenses brought down an aggressive US surveillance aircraft over north Latakia,” AFP quoted.
Turkish military sources told the website of the Hürriyet newspaper that the aircraft was an unarmed American Predator drone, which had took off from the US Incirlik air base in Turkey’s southern province of Adana.
The Syrian state-run television has also broadcast footage of what it referred to as the drone’s wreckage, which was being loaded onto the back of a truck by soldiers.
The US military has confirmed that communication with an unarmed predator drone over northwest Syria was lost on Tuesday and that it is investigating claims that its unmanned aircraft was downed.
“We can confirm that at approximately 1:40 p.m. EDT today, U.S. military controllers lost contact with an U.S. MQ-1 Predator unarmed remotely piloted aircraft operating over northwest Syria… At this time, we have no information to verify press reports that the aircraft was shot down. We are looking into the incident and will provide more details when available,” a US official said.
The coalition, which claims to have been targeting ISIL positions, has also attacked the provinces where the ISIL militants are not active and even hit Syrian infrastructure.
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