FAA bans US airlines from flying over Syria

The US Federal Aviation Administration has banned flights over Syria due to “the ongoing armed conflict and volatile security environment in Syria.”

"Based on an updated assessment of the risk associated with such operations and the lack of any requests from operators wishing to fly in this airspace, we believe it prudent to prohibit US operators from flying into, out of and over Syria," the FAA said in a statement.

Though the body has previously advised against flights over Syria, this marks the first concrete ban.

It warned that "armed extremist groups in Syria are known to be equipped with a variety of anti-aircraft weapons which have the capability to threaten civilian aircraft" citing the previous shooting down of a military aircraft three years ago.

The Islamic State’s presence straddling both Syria and Iraq has increased fears of an expansive, sectarian Islamist presence in the region, already prompting US air strikes in Iraq.

Though mutual fears over the rise of IS in Syria have led some to observe that the US and Assad’s interests could be coming into alignment, the US state department has been at pains to distance themselves from such comparisons.

On Monday State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf denied that the US and Assad were “on the same page” with regards to US strikes on IS.

“In Iraq, we have a government that has asked for our help and asked for our support and welcomed us in. That obviously is not the case in Syria."

"It's a good thing when ISIS fighters are taken off the battlefield, period," Harf said.

“But I'm not going to say that we share anything in common with the Syrian regime.”