This is a good read from CNN. It tells the story of what led to the US shooting down a Syrian Regime aircraft on Sunday after warning it several times to turn back:
CNN – The incident took place after a series of clashes between pro-regime troops and the US-backed anti-ISIS group, the Syrian Democratic Forces, near the SDF-held town of Ja’Din, just south of Tabqah, Syria.
According to the Pentagon, the regime soldiers, equipped with tanks, artillery and technical vehicles, were advancing on the SDF position, forcing the coalition to use the de-confliction hotline with the Russians in attempt to turn the regime troops back.
When that proved unsuccessful, coalition aircraft performed “strafing runs” near the regime positions, which halted their advance.
Following that incident, coalition aircraft observed the Cold War-era Su-22 fighter fly over the SDF positions.“They saw the Su-22 approaching,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis,a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Tuesday. “It again had dirty wings; it was carrying ordinance. They did everything they could to try to warn it away. They did a head-butt maneuver, they launched flares, but ultimately the Su-22 went into a dive and it was observed dropping munitions and was subsequently shot down.”
“Dirty wings” is a military term used to describe a plane carrying armaments. In “a head-butt maneuver, the planes fly just in advance of another to create heavy wake and get its attention,” Davis explained.
Immediately after the Syrian Su-22 fighter jet dropped its bombs, two American F/A-18E Super Hornets, flying from the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, engaged, firing a AIM-9 Sidewinder — a short-range air-to-air missile — at the Syrian plane from about half a mile away, two US officials told CNN.
But the Syrian jet deployed defensive flares, causing the US missile to miss its target. The US pilot proceeded to fire off a second missile, an AIM 120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, which hit its intended target, downing the Syrian warplane and forcing its pilot to eject, the officials added.
The official said the US pilot saw the Syrian pilot eject and saw a parachute deploy, but the US believes the pilot would have landed in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. The Syrian Armed Forces said in a statement that the pilot was missing.
The downing of a Syrian plane does not appear to have prevented Syria from attempting a similar bombing Tuesday according to US military officials.
A US official told CNN that another Syrian Su-22 fighter made an approach in what the military assessed as a possible bombing run on US backed-Syrian Democratic Forces near Tabqa, Syria, on Tuesday. The official said that coalition aircraft made a show of force and conducted a warning maneuver, and the Syrian fighter jet then aborted its trajectory and left the area.
In related news, a senior Iranian leader is now threatening to depose Trump:
FREE BEACON – A senior Iranian leader and confidant of the Islamic Republic’s president is threatening to “depose” President Donald Trump if he continues his policy of confronting Iran and its terror proxy groups in the Middle East, according to recent comments that come as Iranian military leaders threaten missile strikes on U.S. forces and bases in the region.
Mostafa Tajzadeh, a leading Iranian politician and ally to President Hassan Rouhani, claimed this week that the Trump administration is too “fragile” to confront Iran and that if U.S. officials do “anything unwise against Iran,” the Islamic Republic will see that Trump is “deposed,” according to Farsi-language comments independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon.
“Trump’s presidency is so fragile that if he does anything unwise against Iran, if we react smartly, instead of the Islamic Republic of Iran, it is Trump who will be deposed,” the Iranian official tweeted, according to a translation of his remarks.
The comments are in line with statements from other Iranian politicians and military officials during the past several days, following Iran’s missile strike on several key areas in Syria, a move Tehran claimed was in reaction to a recent ISIS-backed terror strike inside Iran.
Sources close to the Trump administration told the Free Beacon that despite the lack of public statements on the escalating military situation, U.S. officials are closely monitoring Iran’s hostile activity and are prepared to respond with force.