TLTP
\nIDLIB
\nA pair of American drones crashed following a midair collision in Syria, destroying both craft.
\nThe cause and exact circumstances of the smash-up remain unclear, however, leaving rumors to swirl. The alleged collision took place over Idlib province on Tuesday, an anonymous defense official said, though offered few other details about the mishap, declining to confirm what caused the crash or what type of drones were involved.
\nWhether the aircraft were fired upon at any point during the incident is also not known, the official said.
\nPhotos and videos circulating online \u2013 which show debris falling from the sky and flaming wreckage on the ground \u2013 indicate that at least one of the craft was an American MQ-9 Reaper drone, used for both surveillance and armed missions.
\nWith no official explanation for the incident, however, speculation was rife on social media, with some suggesting the drones were shot down by Turkish-backed militants.
\nThe reported collision comes days after a US assassination strike on a jihadist trainer based in Idlib, Abu Yahyah al-Uzbeki, who was alleged to work alongside the Al-Qaeda-linked Hurras ad-Din group. The strike is believed to have used an R9X Hellfire missile, a special non-explosive munition that unleashes six sword-like blades before impact \u2013 dubbed the \u201cninja bomb.\u201d
\nThough Damascus has repeatedly slammed the American presence in Syria as illegal and a violation of the country\u2019s sovereignty, Washington continues military operations in several regions, carrying out intermittent strikes around Idlib and embedding soldiers with Arab and Kurdish proxy groups in the south and northeast. Backed by the Pentagon throughout Syria\u2019s war, the Kurdish-led factions now control valuable oil resources, with US plans to train a 2,200-man \u201coilfield guard\u201d in the Hasakah region, according to a recent report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP IDLIB A pair of American drones crashed following a midair collision in Syria, destroying both craft. The cause and exact circumstances of the smash-up remain unclear, however, leaving rumors to swirl. The alleged collision took place over Idlib province on Tuesday, an anonymous defense official said, though offered few other details about the mishap, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n