'We Made Our Point,' General Insists A pair of US fighter pilots have detailed the tense encounter with Syrian combat jets in Syrian airspace last week, an incident which was tense primarily because they were in a country that hasnt approved of their presence hassling military aircraft that actually belong there.
I followed him around for all three of his loops, one of the pilots reported, adding he didnt appear to have any idea I was there. The pilots, added they were in perfect position to shoot down the apparently unaware Syrians, and just needed orders to do so.
The order to shoot the Syrian planes down never came, because the planes appeared to just be flying through the area. The US has since warned the Syrian planes to stay out of that part of Syria, though they insist this is not a no-fly zone.
While its still not clear that the Syrian pilots ever knew they were being confronted militarily, Brig. Gen. Charles Corcoran insisted that the fact that the Syrian planes left the area proved we made our point.