Symbolic image of an F/A-18F Super Hornet | Image credit: US Navy via WikiCommons

A fighter-bomber from the US-led coalition in Syria came “dangerously” close to a Russian surveillance plane over the province of Homs on Sunday, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing a Russian military official in the Middle Eastern country.

The US has stationed 900 soldiers in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq. They are supposed to advise and support the local armed forces and thus prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State. IS took over large parts of both countries in 2014, but was later pushed back.

“A coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces that was operating a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace,” TASS Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria, was quoted as saying.

“The Russian crew immediately took the necessary measures to prevent a collision with great professionalism.”

The incident occurred over the al-Tanf region of Homs, TASS reported.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The United States has a military base in the Syrian region of al-Tanf, across the border from Jordan.