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Canberra: Australia on Tuesday said it had halted its airstrikes in Syria following a warning from Russia that it would target US coalition aircraft after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane.
A spokesman for Australia's Defense Department said strike operations in Syria have temporarily ceased.
Australia has deployed about 780 military personnel as part of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in the Middle East.
"Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats," a spokesman told local media.
On Monday, Moscow warned that it would treat all US coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates river in Syria as "airborne targets" after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said it was ending cooperation on a US-Russian agreement that had been designed to prevent a direct conflict between the two powers in Syria.
