U.S. fighter jets chased away Syrian warplanes trying to fly over American forces

A Pentagon official reported Friday evening U.S. coalition fighter jets chased away two Syrian warplanes that attempted to fly over Hasaka, Syria, an area where American special forces are stationed.

"The presence of the coalition aircraft encouraged the Syrian aircraft to depart the airspace without further incident," the unnamed official said. "No weapons were fired by the coalition fighters."

The skirmish comes after an incident on Thursday in which Syrian government planes bombed Kurdish and American troops at Hasaka. Though no Americans were injured, the Pentagon earlier on Friday issued a warning to the Bashar al-Assad regime which suggested the United States would be willing to shoot down Syrian planes should they continue to fly near U.S. outposts.

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