Story highlights Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend talks to CNN from his HQ in Baghdad

The commander of US forces in Iraq and Syria predicted the defeat of ISIS by next year

(CNN) In the most direct public warning to Moscow and Damascus to date, the new US commander of American troops in Iraq and Syria is vowing to defend US special operations forces in northern Syria if regime warplanes and artillery again attack in areas where troops are located.

"We've informed the Russians where we're at ... (they) tell us they've informed the Syrians, and I'd just say that we will defend ourselves if we feel threatened," Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend told CNN in a telephone interview Saturday from his Baghdad headquarters.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of US forces in Iraq and Syria, tells CNN he hopes ISIS will be defeated next year and its top leader is being "hunted."

Townsend is the first senior military commander to speak on the record about the US possibly challenging the Syrian Air Force in the wake of an incident just days ago.

Townsend, who took command this week, made the remarks following what defense officials described as an "unusual" incident Thursday in northern Syria in which the regime of President Bashar al-Assad used warplanes to attack an area near where US special operations forces were operating in support of Kurdish forces, which are the Americans' key ally in the conflict.

Several US troops had to be quickly moved, and US jet patrols over northern Syria have been beefed up.

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