The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US military shot down a Turkish armed drone after it approached US forces stationed in Syria earlier that day.

During a press conference, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said that American commanders estimated that a Turkish drone flew “less than half a kilometer away from American forces” stationed in Syria.

Ryder added that according to these estimates, American F-16 fighters shot down the Turkish plane “in self-defense,” considering that the plane constituted a “potential threat,” noting that the Pentagon “has no indication that Turkey was targeting the American forces intentionally.”