The Latest: US shoots down Syrian aircraft for first time

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on U.S. shooting down a Syrian fighter jet (all times local):

11:45 p.m.

The U.S. has long said that it would protect what it calls moderate Syrian opposition forces. But Sunday’s shooting down of a Syrian regime jet is the first time it resorted to engaging in air-to-air combat to make good on that promise.

The U.S. military says it has shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet that had bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against Islamic State militants. The action appears to mark a new escalation of the conflict.

A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. had not shot down a Syrian regime aircraft before Sunday’s confrontation.

The U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq says a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces. The shootdown was near the Syrian town of Tabqa.

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7:15 p.m.

The U.S. military has shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet that bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against Islamic State militants. The action appears to mark a new escalation of the conflict.

A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. had not shot down a Syrian regime aircraft before Sunday’s confrontation.

The U.S. has long said that it would protect what it calls moderate Syrian opposition forces. This is the first time it resorted to engaging in air-to-air combat to make good on that promise.

The U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq says a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces. The shootdown was near the Syrian town of Tabqa.

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5:30 p.m.

The U.S. military says it has shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet that bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against Islamic State militants.

The U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a written statement Sunday that a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 after it dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

This appears to mark a new escalation of the conflict. The shootdown was near the Syrian town of Tabqa.

The U.S. military statement says it acted in “collective self defense” of its partner forces and that the U.S. does not seek a fight with the Syrian government or its Russian supporters.