 Russian fighter jets damage US drone over Syria. A Russian fighter jet flew within a few meters of a US drone over Syria and fired flares at it, striking the American aircraft and damaging it. The US military said the latest in a string of aggressive intercepts by Russia in the region. A senior Air Force commander said the move on July the 23rd was an attempt by the Russians to knock the MQ-9 Reaper drone out of the sky and came just a week after a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US surveillance aircraft carrying a crew in the region, jeopardizing the lives of the four Americans on board. One of the Russian flares struck the US MQ-9 severely damaging its propeller Lieutenant General Alex Grinkiewicz, the head of US Air Force Central said in a statement describing the latest close call. We called upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless unprovoked and unprofessional behavior. This incident is the latest in a series of encounters between Russian fighter jets and US aircraft flying over Syria. In all but the one instance a week ago the US aircraft were MQ-9 drones without crew members. On that time however the Russian Su-35 jet flew close to the US MC-12 surveillance aircraft with a crew forcing it to go through the turbulent wake. US officials at the time called it a significant escalation in the ongoing string of encounters between US and Russian aircraft that could have resulted in an accident or loss of life. They said the Russian move hampered the crew members ability to safely operate their plane. In recent weeks US officials said Russian fighter jets have repeatedly harassed US MQ-9 drones which are conducting anti-Islamic state group missions largely in Western Syria. On multiple occasions in the past three weeks the officials said Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to the US reapers setting off flares and forcing the drones to take evasive maneuvers.