MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) - Five violations of Syria's airspace by Western coalition aircraft have been recorded over the past day, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said at a press briefing.
"Aircraft of the so-called international anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States have continued to create dangerous situations in Syria's airspace, performing flights in breach of the deconfliction protocols and violating Syrian airspace. Over the past 24 hours, the coalition twice breached the deconfliction protocols of December 9, 2019 related to flights of unmanned aerial vehicles that were not agreed with the Russian side. Five violations [of Syria's airspace] by a pair of the coalition's F-16 fighter jets, a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt attack planes and an MQ-1C multirole drone were recorded over the Al-Tanf area," Kulit said.
"Such coalition's actions continue to create dangerous preconditions for air incidents and accidents, also aggravating the situation in Syria's airspace," he said.
"One Syrian soldier died and another one was injured in a mortar strike delivered by illegal armed groups on Syrian government forces' positions in [...] the Aleppo province," Kulit said.