Australia suspends air ops as crisis escalates

Australia's military yesterday said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.

The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement.

No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing.

The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS.

A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa.

"Any flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, discovered west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as aerial targets by Russia's air defences on and above ground," said Russia's defence ministry.

It said Washington had failed to use the hotline -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before downing the plane near Raqa.

Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East.