CENTCOM: F-15 flies near Iranian airliner over Syria; Iran objects

[rangerrebew]

CENTCOM: F-15 flies near Iranian airliner over Syria; Iran objects
Stephen Losey
 

An American F-15 fighter jet flew about 1,000 meters from an Iranian passenger airliner over Syria, while conducting what it called a “standard visual inspection” of the aircraft, officials from U.S. Central Command said.

Reports began to spread on social media about the encounter with the Mahan Air airplane earlier on Thursday, as did videos allegedly taken by passengers on the plane of the encounter. Initial reports said the fighter may have been from Israel. The passenger aircraft landed at an airport in Beirut, Lebanon, afterwards.

In a release Thursday evening, CENTCOM spokesman Navy Capt. Bill Urban said that the F-15 was on a “routine air mission” near the al-Tanf garrison base in southern Syria at the time. Al-Tanf is the home of a small number of American commandos who train local anti-Islamic State fighters, but some national security experts argue the base is intended to check Iranian influence.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/07/23/centcom-f-15-flies-near-iranian-airliner-over-syria-iran-objects/

[PeteS in CA]

1000 meters (= 1 Km) is ~.622 miles away, entirely safe. Iran should worry about their own bloody SAM crews more than about F-15s flown by well-trained US or Israeli pilots!