It is an anonymous report. Link
U.S. F-22 fighter aircraft fired warning flares on Wednesday after two Russian Su-25 jets entered an agreed upon deconfliction area in airspace east of Euphrates river, a U.S. official said.The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the incident involved two F-22 jets and the Russian jets departed from the area after the flares were fired.
One official said that the aerial encounter lasted "several minutes", as the Russian jets crossed the de-confliction line several times.US Air Force Central Command has indicated in the past that Russia regularly crosses these lines, which were established in an effort to avoid conflict between US-coalition forces and Russian forces. Russia crossed the line near the Euphrates River six to eight times a day in late November.
It doesn’t appear that Russia acknowledges this deconfliction zone. Not according to the "official" To my knowledge there is no agreed upon deconfliction zone east of the Euphrates..At least not one publically acknowledged or necessarily agreed to as such.However, I’ve long maintained the US has created and attempts to enforce a no fly zone east of the Euphrates. June 23, 2017: Syria: Second SAA Jet Deterred by US Over An Obvious No Fly ZoneJune 20, 2017: Did the US, Again, Enforce a No Fly Zone over Annexed Syrian Territory?Updated December 15/2017:hattip Gallier2: gallier2December 15, 2017 at 4:23 AM
It's funny that your sources (Reuters and Independant) didn't mention what Konashenko stated « after the appearance of a Russian multifunctional super maneuverable Su-35S fighter, the American fighter stopped dangerous maneuvers and hurried to move into Iraqi airspace. »https://strategika51.wordpress.com/2017/12/09/russian-mod-reports-incid…
" « after the appearance of a Russian multifunctional super maneuverable Su-35S fighter, the American fighter stopped dangerous maneuvers and hurried to move into Iraqi airspace. »"
So the Americans left the airspace...........
« The statements of the US Army representatives that a part of the Syrian airspace belongs to the US is puzzling, » Konashenkov stated, reminding the Pentagon that « Syria is a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations, therefore, the United States does not own any part of sky. »
It's not puzzling why the US would claim Syrian airspace belongs to them- That is a part of their agenda- as mentioned. From Yesterday.