“On February 14th, at approximately 2:30 PM local time [11:30 GMT], US forces in Syria engaged and shot down an Iranian-manufactured UAV attempting to conduct reconnaissance of Mission Support Site Conoco, a patrol base in northeast Syria,” CENTCOM wrote on Twitter.
The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011, with President Bashar Assad’s forces fighting different militant groups.
The United States backs Kurdish armed groups in Syria despite protests from Damascus. The US military currently controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, and Deir Ez-Zor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.
The Syrian government does not recognize the so-called autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria and calls the presence of the US military in its territory occupation.
Iran has described US troops’ presence in Syria illegal and for the pursuit of covert targets, stressing that these forces should leave the country.
