The US, Russia, and Iran are edging closer to an all-out clash in Syria

pulse

June 19, 2017 11:01 PM

Repeated clashes by the US and its partners in Syria and pro-regime forces and their backers in Iran and Russia could mutate into a broader conflict.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad on a tank in the southeast Syrian desert, June 13, 2017.

This weekend, for the fourth time in a month, US-led coalition forces clashed with forces backing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The incident — the downing of a Syrian army jet in northern Syria — is another lurch toward what could be a fight that draws powers like Iran as well as the US and Russia into a conflict spanning the region.

On Sunday, US military officials said Syrian pro-government forces attacked the village of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah and west of Raqqa.

The strike reportedly wounded members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is

About two hours later, a Syrian SU-22 jet again struck SDF fighters, dropping munitions with little warning, according to US Central Command spokesman Col. John Thomas, who said there were US forces in the area that were not directly threatened. US aircraft tried to contact the Syrian jet but failed to do so, Thomas said.

As after those incidents, the US-led coalition said on Sunday:

"The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat ... The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated."

Despite that sentiment, the US, Iran, and Russia all appear to be edging closer to a deeper conflict in Syria.

Moscow has provided air support to the Assad regime since 2015, and this month it launched attacks on US-backed fighters that were attacking Iranian-backed forces near al Tanf.

It also said Russia had stopped cooperating with the US to prevent incidents in the air over Syria and that going forward, "In the combat mission zones of the Russian aviation in the air space of Syria, all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by the Russian [surface-to-air missile] systems as air targets." (Though that statement was reportedly amended.)

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