US-led coalition aircraft came 'dangerously' close to Russian one over Syria's Homs

(Patria) - A fighter jet of the US-led coalition in Syria on Sunday came "dangerously" close to a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the province of Homs, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing a Russian military official in the Middle Eastern country.

The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent the resurgence of ISIS, which seized large parts of both countries in 2014 but was later pushed back, Reuters reports.

"A coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was performing a planned flight in Syrian airspace," TASS quoted Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian military's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria.

"The Russian crew, showing high professionalism, immediately took the necessary measures to prevent a collision," he added.

The incident occurred in the al-Tanf area in Homs, TASS states.

The United States has a military base in the Syrian region of al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.