BEIRUT — Syria's state news agency SANA said on Tuesday its air defenses brought down a U.S. surveillance plane in the coastal province of Latakia.

"Syrian air defenses brought down a hostile U.S. surveillance plane in northern Latakia," SANA said in a bulletin, without giving further details.

It was the first such incident since the U.S.-led coalition began carrying out airstrikes against the hardline militant Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria last summer.