gillian: welcome back. new at 2:00, the pentagon is set to brief this hour after russian fighter jets buzz u.s. drones over syria. the top air force commander in the middle east says russia s aggression is a dangerous habit. they have been flying through air space they ve agreed with us over a period of years not to fly into. sometimes it s just one pass through the air space, deservingly close to the garrisons on the ground, other times surveillance aircraft comes through and basically spying on us. gillian: how should the biden administration respond if at all? we will get into that this hour. great to be with you, bill. bill: nice to be with you again today. we also have some big news on
maneuvers, and one russian pilot positioned his aircraft in front of the american drone, lit the after burner, making it hard to control the drone. and they say russian forces display unsafe and unprofessional behavior in the air. agreed upon air space deconfliction measures increases the risk of escalation. the top u.s. air force commander in the middle east put it more bluntly in a recent interview with fox news. they have been flying through air space that they agreed with us over a period of years not to fly into. they are flying right over top of our garrisons in syria that are there focused on the defeat of isis, something that s very disturbing and has our attention. last month u.s. central command deployed f-22 raptor fighter jets into the middle east amid the escalating tensions with russia and in march, a russian war plane
reckless behavior. three russian military planes began harassing three jones targeting isis in syria. central command released of this video of the incident. the jets dropped multiple flares in front of the drones, first thing forcing the drone pilots to perform evasive maneuvers. a plane attempted to damage the electronics. lieutenant general alex, expressed frustration in a recent interview with fox news. they have been flying through airspace they have agreed not to fly into, right over the top of our garrisons focused on the defeat of isis.
figure out how far prigozhin s forces will get and what the degree of defense that russian military forces are able to put up in his way. i m told that western intelligence is focusing on one particular question, and that is how regular russian army units respond to this. intelligence sources have cited to me instances where they ve seen regular army units if not join prigozhin s forces, at least stand aside and let them move forward. that s telling, because if that becomes a pattern as opposed to an exception, then that speaks to weakness in terms of the ability of russia to respond to this and defend the capital as those forces move north. i m also told that wagner forces moving north toward moscow have deliberately avoided urban centers, in part to avoid coming into con flflict with garrisons
commander? yeah, since march, what we ve seen is a pattern of behavior where the russians will fly through airspace. they typically have to deconflict with us. they re supposed to call us before they come in to the airspace. now say they don t recognize the airspace at all. several times a week, several times a day they flew through it. sometimes it s one pass through. disturbingly gross to our garrisons on the ground. they ll have bombs on board, flying overtop of u.s. positions or coalition positions on the ground. other times, surveillance air crafts coming through doing scans of the air and spying on us. it s a pattern of behavior that is concerning to me. neil: i don t want to read their intentions but they re bogged down in ukraine. is this their way of saying we can walk and chew gum at the same time here? how would you describe? i think there s might be some of that. we think about this in the