A U.S. Air Force F-16 shot down a Turkish government drone on Oct. 5 after it flew within half a kilometer of U.S. troops in Syria.
The incident was an extremely rare military engagement between two NATO allies, who were already at odds over a range of security issues.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. called their Turkish counterparts to try to defuse the situation.
The incident played out the morning of Oct. 5 over the skies of northeastern Syria.
Turkey has been conducting airstrikes on Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq it claims were linked to an Oct. 1 bombing outside the Turkish Interior Ministry in the capital of Ankara.
There are around 900 U.S. troops in Syria, who work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to combat the Islamic State group. That SDF insists it had no involvement in the bombing in the Turkish capital.
According to US officials cited by Politico, a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone was being used in Syria near the position of US troops. The United States attempted to contact Turkey a dozen times to warn them, but to no avail. They then resolved to shoot down the drone using an F-16. The US claimed that the drone had been flying in an “unsynchronized” and “unsafe” way. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local sources confirmed that a Turkish drone was shot down by US forces.
In the vicinity of Al-Hasakah, Syria, several Turkish strikes occurred at 7:30 AM local time, with some of them inside a US-declared restricted operating zone. The drones were situated approximately one kilometer away from US forces, prompting them to relocate to bunkers. Later, at 11:30 AM local time, a Turkish drone initially identified as a Bayraktar TB2 breached the restricted operating zone once again. U.S. commanders evaluated the drone as a “possible threat,” resulting in the F-16 shooting it down. The drone model of the combat drone was identified as a TAI Anka-S drone afterwards in more precise reports.
Some of the Turkish strikes on Oct. 5 were around one kilometer from U.S. forces, prompting Americans to take cover in bunkers, according to the Pentagon.
At around 11:30 a.m., a Turkish drone reentered the area and was headed in the direction of U.S. forces, according to the U.S. officials. When the drone got around half a kilometer away from U.S. forces, a U.S. F-16 fired an air-to-air missile that downed the drone.
“We did communicate with Turkey our inherent right to self-defense in the face of a potential threat,” Ryder said. “Commanders on the ground did assess that there was a potential threat, and so they took prudent action.”
During a phone call between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, the two leaders discussed the incident and agreed that while it is regrettable, the focus must remain on the important mission to defeat ISIS in Syria, said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder during a media briefing today.
“The secretary reaffirmed that the United States remains in Syria exclusively in support of the campaign to defeat ISIS,” Ryder said. “The secretary also acknowledged Turkey’s legitimate security concerns and underscored the importance of close coordination between the United States and Turkey to prevent any risk to U.S. forces or the global coalition’s defeat-ISIS mission.”
I called Turkish Minister of National Defense Yasar Guler (@tcsavunma) today to discuss national security and defense-related matters of mutual interest. I reiterated U.S. commitment to continue working together to defeat ISIS and ensure security and stability in the region.…
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 5, 2023
At around 7:30 a.m. local time, U.S. forces observed UAVs conducting airstrikes in the vicinity of Hasakah, Syria, Ryder said. Some of the strikes were inside a declared U.S.-restricted operating zone.
“At approximately 11:30 local time, a Turkish UAV reentered the ROZ on a heading toward where U.S. forces were located,” Ryder said. “U.S. commanders assessed that the UAV, which was now less than a half a kilometer from U.S. forces, to be a potential threat, and U.S. F-16 fighters subsequently shot down the UAV in self-defense at approximately 11:40 local time.”
No U.S. forces were injured, Ryder said, also adding there is no indication that Turkey had intentionally been targeting U.S. forces.
“It’s a regrettable incident, but U.S. commanders on the ground did assess that there was a potential threat and so they took prudent action in this scenario,” Ryder said. “But again, the secretary has talked to his counterpart. They had the opportunity to have a fruitful conversation and … commit to one another that the U.S. and Turkey will continue to closely communicate and coordinate. And as I mentioned, Turkey does remain a very important and valuable NATO ally and partner to the United States.”
In addition to the phone call between Austin and Guler, newly sworn-in chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., also discussed the incident with his counterpart, Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces Gen. Metin Gurak. Those two leaders discussed the U.S. and Turkey’s shared objective of defeating ISIS and the importance of following common deconfliction protocols.
In a call with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yasar Guler after the incident, Austin “urged de-escalation in northern Syria and the importance of maintaining strict adherence to deconfliction protocols and communication through established military-to-military channels,” the Pentagon said in a readout of the call.
In Brown’s call with Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces Gen. Metin Gürak, the generals “discussed our shared objective of defeating ISIS and the need to follow common deconfliction protocols to ensure the safety of our personnel in Syria following today’s incident,” according to the Pentagon.
The episode happened at a sensitive moment, as the U.S. is seeking Turkey’s support to secure Sweden’s entry into NATO, pursue diplomacy over Ukraine, and deal with terrorist dangers.
The bombing in Ankara was ascribed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist group. Turkey considers the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to be linked to PKK, which the SDF denies.
Turkey’s foreign minister said Oct. 4 that Kurdish militants’ facilities in Syria and Iraq were “legitimate targets,” including energy infrastructure.
Turkey claims the perpetrators of the bombing crossed through SDF-controlled territory, which it denies.
“The perpetrators of the Ankara attack did not pass through our region as Turkish officials claimed,” Mazloum Abdi, the head of the SDF, said in a statement. “We are not a party to the civil conflict in Turkey and we do not encourage the escalation of this conflict.”
Photo: Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder spoke during a media briefing at the Pentagon Oct. 5, 2023.
Sources: DoD; Air & Space Forces; Wikipedia