The US 'Doesn't Fully Understand What It is Doing in Syria, Gets Very Nervous'

Commenting on the recent downing of a Syrian jet near the city of Tabqa and the alleged shooting down of an Iranian-made drone near al-Tanf, Russian political analyst Vyacheslav Smirnov explained to Sputnik Radio that the US does not fully understand what it is doing in Syria, which is making the country's military very nervous.

On June 18, a US jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber near the city of Tabqa. The US-led coalition claimed that the Syrian aircraft attacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions, adding that the coalition downed the Syrian jet as part of "collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."

On Tuesday, Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement that a US F-15 fighter jet had shot down an Iranian-made Shaheed-129 drone possessed by Syria, near the Syrian village of al-Tanf after "it was assessed that it posed a threat to the US-led coalition forces."

Russian political analyst, director of the Scientific and Research Institute of Political Sociology Vyacheslav Smirnov commented to Radio Sputnik on the recent developments in Syria.

He said that there is evidently no clear coordination between the US military and civil leadership.

"The US military are getting very nervous, they try to demonstrate their presence, safeguard it and identify the objects which theoretically may pose any threat to them. This, in fact, explains why the Americans do not conduct any large-scale operations but mainly focus on their air defense and aviation," Vyacheslav Smirnov told Sputnik.

He further elaborated that there is no coordination between any parties involved: the commanders of the US-led coalition are acting by themselves, the [peaceful] negotiations are going on separately, while the US Senate and the Congress are living their own lives. There is no interconnection between all of them, and the US military are minding their own business.

The US, he said, does not fully understand what it is doing in Syria.

"There are certain elements of the Cold War. However I would not compare it with the situation during the war in Korea, Vietnam or during the Cuba crisis. The Americans have one definite problem: they do not understand why they are present in Syria," Vyacheslav Smirnov told Sputnik. 

"They don’t have any particular interests in Syria apart from their unwillingness to lose face in leaving. That is why they are forced to react to the developments in the country," the political analyst concluded.