Syria claims that it brought down a U.S. surveillance plane somewhere along the nation’s coast, according to SANA, the nation’s state news agency. SANA reported that Syria’s air defenses shot down the plane in the northern part of the Latakia region. The new agency defined the plane as a “hostile American reconnaissance” plane, reports the Daily Star.
Details on the incident in Syria
Those who witnessed the incident began immediately posting photos of the plane’s wreckage on social media. Many of them say the aircraft looks like a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
MT @LeShaque: Photos by pro-regime media allegedly of the crash site of US UAV. #Syria pic.twitter.com/eTysT4BbPn
— Robert Paul (@RobertPaul1) March 17, 2015
SANA did not provide many details about the incident. The area where the plane was said to be shot down is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.
This is the first incident like it since the coalition led by the U.S. began launching air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq almost a year ago.
Syrian government accused of using chlorine
The report comes the same day as media reports that the Syrian government has been accused of using chlorine in its air attack on Sarmin. Six people, three of whom were children, died in the attack. Dozens of others suffered from serious breathing problems after the attack, reports the BBC. The Syrian military calls the accusation propaganda, denying that it used chlorine in the attack and saying that it would never use this type of weapon and doesn’t need to.
The Associated Press reported that aircraft dropped barrels filled with chlorine on two locations on Monday night. One was reportedly targeted at rebel militants, while the other was said to have struck a residential area.
In January, investigators from outside Syria ruled that three air raids dropped chlorine on three other villages. The Syrian government was blamed for those attacks.
