U.S. military aircraft appears to draw crude image on flight radar near Russian naval facility

A U.S. aircraft this week appeared to draw a crude symbol in the airspace near a Syrian-based Russian naval base, media outlets reported on Friday. 

In what the Italian newspaper La Repubblica called a "high-flying provocation," a U.S. KC-135 Stratotanker took a "very particular route" in the air near the Russian naval base at Tartus, Syria.

The shape of the aircraft's flight pattern "is unequivocally that of a penis," the newspaper said. 

Social media users took to Twitter to post images of the flight path that appeared to show the crude image written out in path data. 

Politico on Friday noted that it is "not known whether the plane took off from Crete to refuel fighter planes, or if the pilots simply" set out to draw the gag symbol in the sky.