A Russian spy plane flew over an American base in Syria “for an extended period of time” yesterday (Friday), which officials described as an “intelligence gathering mission”, a senior security official told CNN. According to the security source, the plane, an Antonov An-30 model, circled over Hail A-Tanf, in the border triangle with Jordan and Iraq, and flew back and forth several times over the base and its surroundings. “They continue to carry out activities that are of great concern to us,” he noted.
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Thus, provocations by Russian fighter jets against the activity of an advanced American UAV were recorded once again, similar to three similar incidents during the recent period.
Regarding the US surveillance operations on Russia, the security source explained to CNN that “no American vessel has been able to intercept Russia’s manned surveillance planes in the past, this is because of the place where American planes were stationed at the time. US aircraft flight schedules change routinely, so military patterns are unpredictable and the Russians would not have known in advance of the lack of US military airspace coverage.”
While the U.S. and Russia often gather intelligence on each other, this incident was significant in that the surveillance plane was directly over a U.S. base. The security official noted said there was “a lot of protest” along the line of defiance established with Russia in Syria.
In Washington they clarified that a clear increase in the cooperation between Moscow, Tehran and Damascus has been detected, according to them as part of the attempt to get the American army to withdraw from Syria and the Middle East. The Pentagon also clarified that as part of the attempt to remove the US from the region, Iran continues to send arms and weapons to the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon – thereby directly threatening Israel.