Russia declares it will treat U.S.-led coalition planes west of the Euphrates as targets

On Monday, Russia declared it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircrafts that crossed west of the Euphrates River as targets, a response to Americans shooting down a Syrian government fighter jet on Sunday, The Associated Press reports.

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Sunday's incident was the first time a U.S. jet downed a manned hostile aircraft in more than 10 years, The Washington Post reports, and the fourth time in a month that the U.S. military attacked Syrian loyalist forces. Russia backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the fight against the Islamic State.

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In a statement, the Syrian military said the jet was carrying out a mission against the Islamic State, and its pilot was killed. A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, Col. John Thomas, scoffed at the claim that the aircraft was bombing ISIS, because the village of Ja'Din is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition mostly comprised of Arab and Kurdish fighters, and ISIS hasn't recently been in the area.