US drone shot down in Syrian air space, military sources in Damascus admit
Plane was likely gathering intelligence as partof bombing campaign against Islamic State
After allowing the United States to use its air space to bomb Islamic State fighters for six months, the Syrian army appears to have imposed a "red line" by shooting down a US drone over territory of critical importance to Damascus.
The US military has said it lost contact with one of its drones over northwest Syria but has not given the cause of the incident over Latakia province - part of the western region of Syria where Damascus has been consolidating state control.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the Predator drone was probably shot down.
A Syrian army source said the aircraft was shot down over government-held territory in an area free from Islamic State, the jihadist group that has been facing near daily bombardment by US-led warplanes on the other side of the country.
"Our air defence brought it down with a rocket," the military source said. "The plane was American-made, was brought down coming from the sea, and the Syrian air defence was the one that brought it down."
Four years into Syria's civil war, Washington still says President Bashar al-Assad has no future in Syria, despite leading an air campaign against jihadist groups that are his most powerful foes on the ground. Until now, Syria is not known to have fired on US aircraft. The United States says its air strikes are not coordinated with Damascus but Syria says it receives word of them through mutual friends in Iraq.
The drone was shot down about 10km north of the coastal city of Latakia, according to the military source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using sources on the ground.
The area is far from the northern and eastern parts of Syria where US and allied warplanes have been launching air strikes against Islamic State positions to roll back the group that has seized areas of Syria and Iraq.
Damascus has been consolidating its grip over western Syria, including the Mediterranean coast, even as it has lost control over wide areas of the north and east. The coastal region includes a Russian naval base in Tartous.
The United States has previously described Syrian air defences as "passive", meaning they have not engaged the US-led coalition's aircraft as American and other planes carry out strikes against militants.
The US air strikes have not targeted Syrian military forces or military infrastructure.
US officials have not provided word on the drone's mission, although the fact it was unarmed suggests it was carrying out intelligence collection. Tuesday's incident took place sometime around 7.40pm in Syria, when officials said the US lost contact with the unarmed MQ-1 Predator aircraft.
