A Russian fighter aircraft harassed and ultimately damaged a U.S. drone over Syria on Sunday, the latest in a string of similar and dangerous incidents.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, the Russian aircraft "flew dangerously close" to an American MQ-9 drone that had been on a mission under the umbrella of defeating the Islamic State, according to Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, the commander of the Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central). The Russian aircraft then sent several flares "from a position directly overhead," and one struck the U.S. drone, "severely damaging its propeller," Grynkewich said.

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“The Russian fighter’s blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” he said. “We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior.”

The crew operating the U.S. drone was able to maintain control of it and fly it back to its base.

Russian fighter aircraft have increased the frequency of their harassment of, and dangerous maneuvers toward, U.S. unmanned aircraft in Syria.

In mid-July, a Russian aircraft flew unprofessionally near an MQ-9 drone that belonged to the United States, while a second Russian aircraft spent "an extended period of time" surveilling the U.S. Al Tanf garrison in Syria, according to a senior defense official.

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The official believes that these more frequent attacks represent a "qualitative difference here now," given the strengthened relationship between Iran and Russia, which has largely been forged during the latter's war in Ukraine.

"My assessment — and we have some evidence to support this — is that as Russia and Iran have pulled themselves closer together, that there is interest on both sides to push us out of Syria to put a pressure campaign on us," the official said. "There's a confluence of interest between these three, the Iranians, Russians, and Syrian, and my assessment is that there's a degree of cooperation, collaboration, planning where they potentially are looking at how they pressure us over time to push the U.S. out."