Rick Klepper: 678.588.1622 | Doug Wilson: 205.903.3272 | Kerry Gossett: 205.281.5681 | Doug Hughes: 205.527.0876 staff@counterthreatgrp.com

The downing of a Syrian jet on Sunday has drawn a strong rebuke and warnings by Russia. Moscow has chosen to suspend the use of the military hotline used to avoid collisions in Syrian airspace. They have also termed the U.S. Air Force response a “massive violation of international law and de facto military aggression”, and will begin treating U.S.-led coalition jets flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as targets.

On Sunday U.S. Air Force shot down a warplane for the first time in 18 years on Sunday. “The Pentagon said the downing of the aircraft came hours after Syrian loyalist forces attacked U.S.-backed fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, in the village of Ja’Din, southwest of Raqqa”.