WASHINGTON: A drone that threatened a base with US and partner forces in southern Syria was shot down by a British fighter jet with the Western anti-Daesh coalition, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The US Central Command said that two “unmanned aerial systems” had flown toward the Al-Tanf desert garrison near the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan late Tuesday.
“As one of the UAS continued its course deeper into the Al-Tanf Deconfliction Zone, it was assessed as demonstrating hostile intent and was shot down,” said Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Central Command.
The second drone was not attacked and “likely left the area,” Urban said in a statement.
The British defense ministry said the drone was downed by a missile from a Royal Air Force Typhoon, the first-ever air-to-air engagement by one of the British fighter jets.
The small size of the drone made it a “very challenging target,” the ministry said.
But officials did not say if it was armed or not.
“This strike is an impressive demonstration of the RAF’s ability to take out hostile targets in the air which pose a threat to our forces,” said British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
Neither the United States nor the British would say who launched the drones toward the base.
The Pentagon has blamed drone attacks on US forces in Iraq over the past years on Iran-backed militia groups.
Iran-backed forces are deployed in close proximity to Al-Tanf, which sits on the strategically important Baghdad-Damascus highway.
In October the base came under attack by artillery fire and drones.
“We know that this is an increasingly used and increasingly potentially lethal threat that these Iran-backed militia groups are using, the use of drones,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
Western coalition in Syria shoots down menacing drone
https://arab.news/9js55
Western coalition in Syria shoots down menacing drone
- The US Central Command said that two "unmanned aerial systems" had flown toward the Al-Tanf desert garrison
- The British defense ministry said the drone was downed by a missile from a Royal Air Force Typhoon
UK slaps sanctions on Sudan RSF paramilitary deputy, other commanders
- The Foreign Office in London said those targeted include RSF second-in-command Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo
- They are accused of “mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians”
LONDON: The UK Friday imposed sanctions on senior commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) suspected of “heinous violence” in the Darfur hub of El-Fasher, which the paramilitary group captured in October.
The Foreign Office in London said those targeted include RSF second-in-command Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, whose brother Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo is the group’s leader, as well as three other commanders.
They are accused of “mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians” when the RSF dislodged the Sudanese army from El-Fasher, its last stronghold in the western Darfur region.
They now face UK asset freezes and travel bans.
The government said the RSF’s actions in El-Fasher were “not random” but instead “part of a deliberate strategy to terrorize populations and seize control through fear and violence.”
It added satellite imagery showed evidence of mass graves where victims have been burned and buried, and the sanctions send “a clear message that those who commit atrocities will be held to account.”
The European Union last month also slapped sanctions on Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo.
In a statement unveiling the UK curbs, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the atrocities taking place in Sudan “are so horrific they scar the conscience of the world.”
“The overwhelming evidence of heinous crimes — mass executions, starvation, and the systematic and calculated use of rape as a weapon of war — cannot and will not go unpunished,” she added.
“The UK will not look away, and we will always stand with the people of Sudan.”
Minni Minawi, the army-aligned governor of Darfur, welcomed the UK sanctions “as an important step toward holding accountable those responsible for the crimes and violations witnessed in Sudan in recent times.”
But he added the measures “remain incomplete” unless they also target Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, “as he is the decision-maker and the direct architect of the violence system.”
London also announced Friday £21 million ($28 million) in additional aid to provide food, clean water, health care, and protection for women and children in areas of Sudan hardest hit by violence.
It said the financial package took UK aid spending in Sudan this year to £146 million.
