The pilots of the American fighters were frightened by the Russian Su-25 attack aircraft.

According to the portal Avia.pro, the day before, during a combat mission, Russian attack aircraft approached the zone controlled by the United States and its allies, as a result of which the American pilots were forced to launch false heat targets to indicate their presence in the air. This did not lead to any conflict between the two sides, although the Pentagon called such actions unacceptable, and after American combat aircraft indicated their location, Russian attack aircraft returned to territory controlled by the government forces of Syria.

It should be clarified that there was no direct threat to Russian military aircraft, since in the immediate vicinity were the Aerospace Forces fighters, which were also on a combat mission.