New Details Emerge About F-15 Intercept Of Iranian Airbus Over Syria
American officials now say the Iranian airliner drifted from the established air route through the area and did not identify itself when prompted.
By Joseph TrevithickJ uly 24, 2020
The War Zone
U.S. officials now say that a U.S. Air Force F-15 only came within 5,000 feet of an Airbus A310 airliner belonging to Iran's Air Mahan during an incident over Syria yesterday. They have also stated that Air Mahan Flight 1152 appeared to deviate from the established flight route and did not respond to radio calls to identify itself while flying over a strategic garrison near the city of At Tanf that U.S.-backed Syrian forces operate, prompting the intercept in the first place.
Details about exactly how the July 23rd incident went down remain limited. Supposedly, the F-15's intercept prompted Mahan Air Flight 1152, which was on its way from the Iranian capital Tehran to Beirut in Lebanon, to make an evasive maneuver leading to several injuries among the passengers on board. The U.S. military has established a deconfliction zone around the garrison at At Tanf that stretches 55 miles in all directions, which it says is a no-go zone for forces aligned with the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad, including Russian and Iranian-backed groups. American aircraft, especially F-15E Strike Eagles based in neighboring Jordan, routinely patrol the area to keep foreign combat aircraft out and reportedly require all planes, even commercial airliners, to identify themselves while passing over.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35082/new-details-emerge-about-air-force-f-15-intercept-of-iranian-airbus-over-syria
