No confirmation of Baghdadi death – Iran drone downed by US jet

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MOSCOW, June 20, (Agencies): Russia said on Tuesday it could not confirm that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in an air strike in Syria last month, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying. Moscow said on Friday its forces may have killed the secretive Islamic State leader, but Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials were sceptical.

Drone shot down
The US-led coalition said on Tuesday it had shot down an armed “pro-Syrian regime” drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria’s south-east, and a Western intelligence source identified the aircraft as Iranian.

It marked the second time in three days US forces have shot down an aircraft operated by Damascus or its allies in Syria, and reflected mounting tensions over a stretch of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier where US forces have established a base. In a statement, US forces said the drone was fired on after it “displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces”.

The Western intelligence source said it was “unquestionably Iranian”. “They are testing the limits,” the source told Reuters without elaborating. The area falls in a part of Syria that was recently identified as a military priority by Damascus, and is seen as strategically important for Iran as it seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq. The coalition statement said the location was close to where another “proregime” drone — which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian — was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces. In an indirect reference to Iranian backed forces that have been gathering in the eastern desert region, the coalition statement cited a recent escalation of tensions and said it would not “tolerate any hostile intent and action of pro-regime forces”.

Tensions escalated on Sunday as the US army brought down the jet near Raqqa and Iran launched missiles at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria — the first time each state has carried out such actions in the multi-sided Syrian war. Russia, like Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, issued a warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down. In Syria’s tangled conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Bashar al-Assad and Islamist militants, while Assad is backed by Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militia.

The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad’s side to stay away from a “deconfl iction zone”, agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by US special forces and US-backed militia around Al Tanf. On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the US-led coalition have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them advancing from the Al Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria at a spot where the country’s borders join Iraq and Jordan. Washington also described those strikes as self-defense.

The competition between the Syrian army and the militias and US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels has stepped up in the Badia desert that stretches to the Iraqi border after Islamic State abandoned large swathes of territory as it defends Raqqa and Deir Zor.

The Syrian army has been able to make rapid adavances allowing them to reach the border for the first time in years. Meanwhile, the US military on Tuesday said Russia was not carrying out any actions in Syria that “cause us concern,” even after Moscow said a day earlier it would treat US-led coalition aircraft flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as potential targets. “Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures,” said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

Airstrikes suspended
Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria as a precaution, after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week and Russia warned the US-led coalition from flying over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River. The announcement from Canberra came as a brief, two-day truce collapsed in the southern Syrian city of Daraa and nearby areas where government forces have gained ground. Australia is part of a US-led coalition that has been waging war against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

The US military shot down the Syrian warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied, Kurdishled force that is battling the IS extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa. That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target US-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran — another close Assad ally — fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

With the skies over Syria growing increasingly crowded, a statement from the Australian Defense Department released in the capital, Canberra, said that “Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats.”

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