Had a feeling something like this would happen, sooner or later. Too many damned players involved in this game already: U.S., Canada (though Canada's withdrawing their aircraft), France, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Iraqi Sunnis, Iraqi Shiites, Syrian Assad loyalists, Syrian rebels (a multitude plethora of splintered factions), Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Hezbollah....not to mention the increasing number of backers that are bankrolling one faction or another, the Gulf States among them....
Hard to tell where this will go. If it just becomes another "incident" with a lot of shouting between diplomats and grist for the political commentators, then it's just par for the course with that shitty region of the world. If it starts leading to other "incidents" though, especially if Putin decides to trump this up as a provocation by NATO? Then I would be especially worried, a lot.
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"The use of force is always an answer to problems. Whether or not it's a satisfactory answer depends on a number of things, not least the personality of the person making the determination. Force isn't an attractive answer, though. I would not be true to myself or to the people I served with in 1970 if I did not make that realization clear."
— David Drake
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