New York Times columnist and former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Bret Stephens wrote an opinion piece on Sunday slamming his paper's decision to run the cartoon.

“I thought it was important to get it up and running as soon as possible,” said Cameron, who asked to be identified only as someone who lives across the country from California.

An estimated $1.822 trillion spent around the world; Israel ranks 17th out of top 40 military spenders for a second year in a row.

Local sources told Deir EzZor 24 that the aircraft were not Russian, Iranian or Syrian. A large presence of military vehicles has been reported in the area since the aircraft were spotted.