Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Thursday that reports of Russian fighter jets harassing U.S. Air Force drones in Syria is a sign the Biden administration is so determined on helping Ukraine that it's losing focus elsewhere.
The Air Force said Wednesday in a news release that three MQ-9 Reaper drones were conducting a mission against ISIS targets in Syria when three Russian fighter jets dropped multiple parachute flares in front of the drones, forcing them to conduct evasive maneuvers. The Air Force said one Russian pilot positioned the aircraft in front of a drone and engaged the afterburner, reducing the drone operator's ability to safely operate the aircraft.
"What we're seeing is as we start to fixate and focus on Ukraine and Russia, all the weapons, all the money, you can't lose your peripheral vision as to what's going on in this very dangerous world of ours," Holt told "American Agenda" after being shown video released by the Air Force of the Russian jets' actions. "And you're getting no clearer signal of that happening than in what you just showed over Syria."
Holt said Syria is being used by Iran as a launching pad for attacks on Israel, just like Lebanon. And Iran was thwarted early Wednesday by the U.S. Navy while trying to seize two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. But he said the Biden administration seems to ignore that in its zeal to return to a nuclear agreement with Tehran, of which the U.S. pulled out of during the Trump administration.
"Syria is being used as an Iranian projection platform against Israel," Holt said. "We see Lebanon firing rockets and missiles into Israel.
"All these things are proxies to the Iranians who feel very free about trying to take ships out of play in the Middle East and seize ships, and yet we've got an administration that seems just determined as the dickens to trade money for some assurance that they won't develop nuclear weapons.
"It's very dangerous out there."
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