MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. A US-led coalition’s MQ-9 Reaper drone dangerously approached a Russian fighter jet in Syria’s Homs governorate, Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria (a division of the Russian defense ministry), said on Monday.
"A coalition’s MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance combat unmanned aerial vehicle dangerously approached a Su-35 plane of the Russian aerospace forces making a planned flight over Syria. The incident took place near the settlement of al-Sukhne in the Homs governorate," he said, adding that the Russian pilot demonstrated high professionalism and took timely measures to prevent a collision.
He also said that a pair of the coalition’s F-15, a pair of Rafale and two pairs of Typhoon fighter jets, as well as two pairs of A-10 Thunderbolt attack bombers violated Syria’s airspace in the al-Tanf area, across which international air routes run, twelve times during the day.
Apart from that, according to Ignasyuk, two shelling attacks on positions of Syrian government troops by terrorist groups were reported in the Idlib de-escalation zone during the past day.