FILE - At left, in a July 29, 2017, file photo, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Seantavius Jones runs the ball during NFL football training camp, in St. Joseph, Mo. At right, in a May 30, 2017, file photo, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill participates in a drill during the team's organized team activity at its NFL football training facility, in Kansas City, Mo. The most closely watched position group in Chiefs camp is wide receiver, where the stunning release of Jeremy Maclin during the offseason left them devoid of any experience.

WASHINGTON – A drone likely connected to Iranian-supported militias fired on U.S.-backed troops near a military camp in southern Syria on Thursday, near where the U.S.-led coalition is training Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State group, an American military spokesman said. The weapon fired by the drone did not detonate and no one was hurt, but Army Col. Ryan Dillon told reporters at the Pentagon that it was considered a direct threat and that a manned U.S. aircraft shot it down. The attack came just hours after the U.S. bombed Syrian government and allied troops inside a protected zone in that area, and marked a sharp escalation in the skirmishes between the coalition and those pro-Syrian government forces there. Dillon said this was the first time that forces supporting Damascus had attacked coalition troops in that region, which is near the training camp in Tanf, close to the border with Jordan. He declined to say who owned or operated the drone, but other officials said it was likely Iranian or Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

That's how Hassan Yakub, al-Shabab's most senior leader in Somalia's Galgaduud region, responded when I requested that we use a drone to film his fighters at one of the armed group's training camps. Over the past few years, drone strikes have killed dozens of al-Shabab fighters, including the group's former leader and at least 10 of its senior commanders. The last drone hit to target the al-Qaeda-linked group's leaders happened just a month ago, in the East African country's Lower Juba region. Al-Shabab fighters have been trained to hide from drones or, if the unmanned aircraft are low enough, to shoot them down. Our cameraman was also not enthusiastic about taking a drone to an area controlled by al-Shabab.