U.S. aircraft conduct reconnaissance flights near Russian bases in Syria
Two U.S. Air Force aircraft alternately conducted long reconnaissance flights off the Syrian coast near the Russian Khmeimim airbase and the Russian Navy's logistics base in the port of Tartus.
According to Interfax, a U.S. Air Force RC-135W reconnaissance aircraft was the first plane to be spotted near the Syrian and Lebanese coasts. It took off from Souda Bay Air Base on the island of Crete. The aircraft made a series of overflights at a distance of about 50-60 km from the Russian bases at an altitude of 10 thousand meters above the Eastern Mediterranean.
Then a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft flew close to the Russian bases. It took off from Sigonella Air Base on the Italian island of Sicily. The aircraft circled off the Syrian coast for more than an hour and a half.