A Russian plane fired flares on the US drone over Syria and broken its propeller, America’s army mentioned on Tuesday. Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, the pinnacle of US Air Forces Central, in a press release, revealed that on Sunday, the Russian fighter plane flew dangerously near a US MQ-9 drone on a defeat-ISIS mission, harassing it and deploying flares from a place immediately overhead, with only some metres of separation between plane.

“One of the Russian flares struck the US MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller. Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base,” the pinnacle of US Air Forces Central mentioned.

“The Russian fighter’s blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS. We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behaviour,” he added.

The Sunday incident is the latest in a series of encounters between Russian fighter jets and US aircraft flying over Syria.

A similar incident took place in March over the Black Sea, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet struck the same type of US drone, damaging its propellor and forcing it down in the water, reported CNN.

Last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said US analysts are examining the potential reasons behind the uptick in aggressive Russian actions.

Some of the incidents over Syria have lasted as long as two hours, US officials said, according to CNN.

Earlier, on July 16, Russian military aircraft engaged a US aircraft in Syria in “an unsafe and unprofessional method.”

Grynkewich, the head of US Air Forces Central, in a statement dated July 18, said, “A US MC-12 was conducting operations in assist of the Coalitions Defeat ISIS mission was carefully approached by a Russian Su-35 towards established norms and protocols, forcing the MC-12 to fly by means of its wake turbulence.”

“This decreased the crew’s skill to soundly function the plane and put the 4 crewmembers’ lives in danger. These actions towards a manned plane symbolize a brand new stage of unsafe and unprofessional actions by Russian plane working in Syria. We strongly urge Russian forces in Syria to stop reckless and threatening behaviour that would end in an accident and lack of life, and cling to the requirements of behaviour anticipated of an expert pressure,” he added.