Syrian government and American forces engaged in firefights on Thursday outside of At Tanf, a desert town near the borders of Jordan and Iraq.
American forces “destroyed” two armed trucks that “advanced toward Coalition forces,” according to the US military. Shortly afterward, American warplanes downed an armed Syrian drone “after it fired on Coalition forces,” the Pentagon said.
Although the drone “hit dirt,” American officials said that the discharge wasn’t intended to serve as a warning shot, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon said that the fighting took place inside of a deconfliction zone. Reuters noted that an agreement over the area was hashed out by the US and Russia, an ally of the Syrian government.
The combat was the third such clash near Tanf involving US forces on the ground in Syria and troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Thursday’s fighting took place just two days after a skirmish involving US troops and Shia militias reportedly backed by the Iranian government. Last month, US forces attacked Syrian troops approaching the Tanf deconfliction zone.
“The Coalition’s mission is to defeat Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” US military officials said on Thursday. “The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian or pro-regime forces partnered with them.”
The counter-ISIS mission has itself come under criticism in recent days for its alleged use of indiscriminate weaponry, in the final assault on the Iraqi city of Mosul.
“All warring parties should cease using explosive weapons with wide area effects and inherently indiscriminate weapons in densely populated west Mosul,” said Airwars, a London-based group keeping tabs on the impact on civilians of foreign intervention in Syria.
The group also said on Thursday that Islamic State’s “unlawful use of civilians as ‘human shields’ and the difficulty of identifying civilians in buildings increases the risk of civilian casualties.”
Iraqi forces have specifically been accused in recent days of using white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, in its assault on Mosul. The Iraqi government said it would investigate the claims.
Almost every major faction involved in Syria’s Civil War has been accused of conducting indiscriminate attacks—especially Syrian government forces, which have repeatedly dropped barrel bombs on urban areas held by rebel forces.
