Australia's military resumes air operations over Syria

The Shaheed-129 drone was armed and displayed hostile intent when it was intercepted by an F-15E Strike Eagle around 12:30 a.m. local time near the Syrian city of Tanf, according to U.S. Central Command.

More recently a USA jet shot down a Syrian Air Force jet over the weekend after it struck US -allied forces, marking one of the greatest escalations since the US entered the Syrian conflict in 2014.

Iranian-backed pro-Syrian regime forces are pushing forward on a number of fronts, and the USA is equally eager to resist what it sees as a widening of Iranian influence.

A U.S. aircraft on Tuesday shot down an armed pro-Syrian regime Unmanned Aerial Vehicle advancing on Coalition forces in Southern Syria, according to a US-led coalition statement.

The last drone the USA says it shot down was also reportedly destroyed near Tanf after firing on coalition forces.

Russian Federation reacted angrily to the United States shootdown of the Syrian jet, which the Pentagon said was dropping bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mixed Kurdish-Arab militia fighting the IS.

Following the downing of a Syrian warplane on Sunday by U.S. forces, Russia, which is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad warned that planes flying west of the Euphrates River will be "air targets".

In the wake of a US F/A-18 shooting down a Syrian Su-22, Russian Federation issued strong warnings to the USA by threatening to target U.S. and US-led coalition planes in Syria.

"Talks were already launched between the USA and Russian Federation concerning the need that Iranian-backed militias and regime forces move from the area where they lately advanced in northern al-Tanf to allow us to resume the military operation against ISIS", al-Tala also said.

The US-led coalition said Tuesday that it had killed IS's self-proclaimed top cleric, Turki Binali, in an air strike in May on the Syrian town of Mayadeen near the Iraqi border.

In Syria's complicated multi-sided conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Bashar al-Assad and Islamist militants, while Assad is backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militia.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has announced that it is suspending flights in Syria as a precaution.

In this picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Monday, June 19, 2017, a missile is fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria.

On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the US-led coalition have also struck pro-regime forces to prevent them advancing from the Al Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria at a spot where the country's borders join Iraq and Jordan.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the incident had yet to be made public, said that the drone was in the same area where US aircraft had shot down the same type of unmanned aircraft - an Iranian Shahed 129 - earlier this month.

The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed it has no interest in increasing its role in Syria's civil war, and that its sole focus is on defeating IS.

The aim is "to ensure that they can't easily be excluded, and that they remain on track to ultimately retake the entirety of the country", Heller said.

Russian Federation should also be wary of any further escalation, Stevenson said, as that could push its military into a situation in which its forces are overstretched in such a way that they would not be able match the capabilities of the United States - "essentially having a bluff called".

"It's important to point out that the incident that took place this weekend followed a combined arms movement by pro-regime forces".

Forces with competing aims are now at close quarters in eastern Syria.

The actions of the U.S. and its allies were criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry, and they were called by the Defense Ministry actually military aggression against Syria.

Another day, another escalation in Syria.