White Ball Plasma Over Syria, October 2024

Brief

This is a U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command MISREP filed under Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, covering a 20-hour ISR sortie over Syria on 20-21 October 2024. At 1559Z, an airborne FMV/SIGINT platform observed what the crew described as a 'MISHAPEN AND UNEVEN BALL OF WHITE LIGHT,' with light or glare of unknown origin crossing the FMV camera feed directly at 1559Z, 1602Z, and 1644Z, and a halo effect appearing at the top of the feed at 1609Z and 1620Z. The UAP physical state field was formally populated as 'Plasma,' though the crew assessed the event as benign with no mission impact and explicitly ruled out a lasing event as the cause. No interrogation, engagement, or material recovery was conducted.

Metadata

Agency

Department of War

Release

5/8/26

Location

Syria

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

10 pages

Classification

SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY

Programs

INHERENT RESOLVE, SANTA FE

Tags

white light ball, plasma, light/glare, halo effect, FMV camera, Syria, 2024, Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, AFSOC ISR

Key points

• UAP event logged at 1559Z on 20 October 2024, grid 37SFU36, during an AFSOC ISR orbit at 20,088 ft altitude and 144 knots over Syria.p.7
• The formal UAP description field reads 'MISHAPEN AND UNEVEN BALL OF WHITE LIGHT' — verbatim in the structured AARO reporting schema.p.9
• Light or glare of unknown origin crossed the FMV camera directly at 1559Z, 1602Z, and 1644Z; a halo effect appeared at the top of the FMV feed at 1609Z and 1620Z — spanning approximately 45 minutes of observation.p.9
• The UAP physical state field is formally populated as 'Plasma'; propulsion means listed as 'UNKNOWN'; UAP signatures listed as 'LIGHT'.p.8
• Aircrew assessed the event as benign with no mission impact and determined it was not a lasing event.p.8
• No interrogation of the UAP was performed, no engagement was made, no material was recovered, and no effects on persons or equipment were reported.p.8
• The platform conducted 20:24 total mission hours, 14:22 FMV hours, and three separate ISR taskings during the sortie; the UAP occurred during the second tasking window.p.1
• The report was originated by the 12th Special Operations Squadron (12 SOS) under the 27th Special Operations Wing (27 SOW); the observer held grade E-4.p.8
• Declassified by MG Richard A. Harrison, USCENTCOM Chief of Staff, on 24 October 2025; original classification was SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY.p.1

Verbatim

• MISHAPEN AND UNEVEN BALL OF WHITE LIGHT.

  p.9

• LIGHT/GLARE FROM UNKNOWN ORIGIN FLASHED ACCROSS FMV CAMERA FEED. AIRCREW ASSESSED THIS NOT TO BE A LASING EVENT.

  p.8

• FROM 1559Z-1644Z, (b)(1)1.4a OBSERVED MULTIPLE GLARES OR LIGHT FROM UNKNOWN ORIGIN AT DIFFERENT ANGLES AND DIRECTIONS.

  p.9

• AT 1609Z AND 1620Z, (b)(1)1.4a OBSERVED A LIGHT/GLARE HALO EFFECT AT THE TOP OF (b)(1)1.4a FMV FEED.

  p.9

• AIRCREW CONSIDERED THIS NO MISSION IMPACT OR CHANGE AND UAP WAS BENIGN.

  p.9

• LIGHT/GLARE FLASHED OF UNK ORIGIN FLASHED ACCROSS FMV CAMERA FEED

  p.7

• OBSERVED AN UNIDENTIFIED ARRIEAL PHENOMENON

  p.1

Most interesting

• The original narrative on page 1 misspells 'AERIAL' as 'ARRIEAL' — a transcription error embedded in the official MISREP submitted to AARO.
• The UAP physical state field is formally marked 'Plasma,' which implies AARO's reporting schema contains a structured taxonomy of physical states that operators are expected to select from.
• The UAP event serial number is formatted as a DTG — '201559ZOCT2024' — the exact moment of first observation, used as the permanent identifier for the event.
• Despite light crossing the FMV camera feed at five distinct timestamps across 45 minutes, the aircrew made no attempt to interrogate the phenomenon with any available sensor.
• The AN/DAS-4 targeting pod and SANTA FE sensor suite were both aboard the platform but produced no structured returns attributed to the UAP in this report.
• The first-seen accuracy radius is listed as 5 and the last-seen accuracy radius as 15 — both estimated — suggesting increasing positional uncertainty over the observation window rather than a fixed, trackable object.
• The companion document referenced in the war.gov listing, DoW-UAP-D32, is a separate mission report; this document (DOW-UAP-PR33) is the MISREP that independently repeats and formally records the same 'misshapen and uneven ball of white light' characterization in the AARO UAP fields.