(HorizonPost.com) – While much of the country aims its attention on the administration’s ongoing debacle currently taking place in Afghanistan, American forces are fighting elsewhere in the region, as evidenced by the events of this past weekend.
On Saturday, August 21, a United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 fighter jet shot down an alleged Iranian drone (Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)) that presented a perceived threat to American troops operating in Syria.
#BREAKING: Officials tell Fox News that US Air Force shot down an Iranian drone over eastern #Syria yesterday. Follows uptick in such incidents in Syria earlier this summer. #Iran 1/2 https://t.co/LrdWJrONJ3
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 22, 2021
This event might come as a shock to President Joe Biden, who just days earlier told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, “We don’t have military in Syria.” According to Fox News, there were 900 soldiers in the country at the time of the Biden/ABC interview. Reuters confirmed the shootdown with United States Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, which creates a conflict with the president’s statement.
SCOOP: A US F-15E shot down a UAS near the Green Village military base in eastern Syria yesterday. I'm also told a general officer was flying the F-15E and fired the AIM-9X. The ownership and identity of the UAS is not being released. Story: 🔒https://t.co/kxv5KHnJqM
— Steve Trimble (@TheDEWLine) August 22, 2021
According to reporter Steve Trimble of Aviation Week, two people told him the pilot who shot down the UAS was Brigadier General Christopher Sage, the commanding officer for the air wing. After Trimble’s announcement, some commenters on Twitter expressed confusion about why someone of his rank would be flying a mission like that.
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