June 18, 2017

U.S. Shoots Down Syrian Warplane for First Time

Featuring: Ilan Goldenberg, and Nicholas Heras

Source: New York Magazine

Journalist: Chas Danner

A U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane on Sunday, marking an unprecedented new escalation in the conflict between the U.S. and its allies and the Assad regime in Syria. U.S. Central Command told Reuters that the plane was shot down in “collective self-defense of coalition partnered forces” after it had targeted U.S.-backed forces near the ISIS-held city of Raqqa. The Syrian army, meanwhile, claims the fighter jet was conducting a mission against ISIS militants. Either way, it’s the first time the U.S. has shot down a Syrian aircraft since the beginning of the country’s civil war in 2011, and the first time it has shot down a manned warplane anywhere in more than a decade.

Read the full piece in New York Magazine.

Authors

  • Ilan Goldenberg

    Former Senior Fellow and Director, Middle East Security Program

    Ilan Goldenberg is the former Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He is a foreign policy and defense expe...

  • Nicholas Heras

    Former Fellow, Middle East Security Program

    Nicholas A. Heras is a former Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), working in the Middle East Security Program. His work focused on the analysis of complex...