US loses drone in Syria—officials

In this Jan. 31, 2010, file photo, an unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan on a moonlit night. US officials have confirmed that a similar drone was lost in Syria while on a reconnaissance mission. AP

WASHINGTON, United States — An unarmed U.S. Predator drone aircraft went down in Syria, but it’s not clear whether it was shot down as claimed by the Syrian government, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Syria’s SANA state news agency said Tuesday that the country’s air defenses shot down a U.S. drone in a northwestern province along the Mediterranean coast. SANA said the aircraft was downed north of the coastal city of Latakia.

State television broadcast footage of what it said was the wreckage, including a wheel and electronic parts. Soldiers in camouflage could be seen loading some of the debris into the back of a truck.

A U.S. defense official said that at about 1840 GMT, U.S. military controllers lost contact with an MQ-1 Predator over northwest Syria. The official said there was no information to corroborate the claim that it had been shot down.

The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.

It’s the first American aircraft to go down over Syria since the U.S. expanded its aerial campaign against the Islamic State extremist group to the country in September.

A Jordanian jet crashed near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa in December. The Islamic State group captured the pilot and later burned him alive.

U.S. drones are operated over Syria to provide reconnaissance of certain parts of the country.