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Russia carried out airstrikes against the U.S.-led coalition earlier this month near the al-Tanf garrison, which is located near Syria’s border with Jordan, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. military officials, reported that there is concern that these military actions by Russia could “escalate into an unintended conflict” between the U.S. and Russia in Syria.
Tensions between Moscow and Washington are high over the Ukraine War. The U.S. has blamed Russia for its “unprovoked” invasion and has since leveled tough sanctions against Moscow and has provided Ukraine with a historic amount of weapons to kill Russians.
Russia blamed the U.S. for refusing to acknowledge its security concerns about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.
A U.S. military official told the paper that Russia informed Washington about the airstrikes through a communications line. Russia claimed that the airstrikes were in retaliation to an attack.
CNN reported that Russians said there was a roadside bomb attack against Russian forces. The U.S. believes that did not happen and the so-called attack was “used as a reason to conduct airstrikes.”
Al-Tanf is home to a U.S. military base with about 200 troops.
The paper said the fact that these U.S. troops were warned was evidence that Russia was not targeting U.S. troops, but its motives could have been to harass them.
The Journal reported that earlier that week, Russian fighter jets were deployed to a site where American troops were conducting a raid and the U.S. had to scramble F-16 fighters to “warn the Russian jets.”
Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement to the paper that “Russia’s recent behavior has been provocative and escalatory.”
One U.S. official told CNN that the Russians likely achieved their goal of “sending a message” to Washington that they can strike without fear of retaliation.
This is not the first time there was tension between Russian forces and Americans in Syria.
Task & Purpose reported that in February 2018, there was a firefight between American troops and “a combination of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group and pro-regime fighters.” The report said 30 Americans were backed by air support and killed close to 300 of the 500 fighters.
TRENDPOST: It should be noted that Russian troops are in Syria at the request of the Syrian government while U.S. forces are uninvited occupiers. When countries like Russia disregard borders, their troops are called invaders, when it’s the U.S. inside countries while uninvited, those troops are called liberators.
Russian troops have been in Syria since 2015. The Cradle.co pointed out that “Washington justifies its illegal occupation of Syria’s oil-rich regions as a means to stop ISIS from getting their hands on the resources.”