Russian military aircraft flew over a US military base in southern Syria 24 times in March, a US military commander said, adding that this repeated overflight "violates a four-year agreement between the United States and Russia, threatening to escalate the situation."
The commander of the Joint Air Forces of the US Central Command, Lieutenant General Alexos Grynkewicz, told NBC News on Wednesday that the latest Russian flight over the al-Tanf base near Syria's borders with Jordan and Iraq occurred just a few hours ago.
The spokesman explained that Russian warplanes are flying within a mile of US forces inside the al-Tanf base, describing the situation as uncomfortable.
Among the aircraft involved in the overflights are Su-34 fighters, some carrying air-to-air weapons, others carrying air-to-ground munitions, and carrying weapons, missiles, thermal bombs and others guided by radar.
According to the US military official, Russian aircraft did not violate the airspace of Al-Tanf base last February, while the number of violations reached 14 times in January 2023.
"It's a big increase," the U.S. military commander said, adding that at that rate the number would be double what it was in the past.
2019 Agreement
Washington and Moscow agreed in 2019 on measures to prevent air accidents between their forces over Syrian territory.
These developments come at a time of escalating military tension between Russia on the one hand and the United States and NATO on the other, as last week a US drone crashed into the sea last week after being intercepted by two Russian Sukhoi-27 fighter jets, in the first known direct military confrontation between the two sides since Russia launched its war on Ukraine last year.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had launched a Russian Sukhoi-35 fighter over the Baltic Sea after spotting two U.S. strategic aircraft flying toward the Russian border, but then left.