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
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
