Syria

Russia deploys advanced S-300V4 anti-ballistic missile system in Syria, amid rising tensions between Washington and Moscow

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By South Front
Global Research, October 04, 2016
South Front 7 October 2016

The US Fox News TV channel has reported, citing military sources, that Russia had deployed the S-300V4 “Antey-2500” anti-ballistic missile system in Syria. S-300V4 is an upgraded version of S-300.

It’s designed to defeat short- and medium-range ballistic missile, aeroballistic and cruise missiles, fixed-wing aircraft, as well as loitering ECM platforms and precision-guided munitions.

According to Fox News, it was delivered to the Russian naval facility in Tartus via the sea.

In 2015, Moscow deployed the S-300 long range surface-to-air missile system after the incident with the downing of Russia’s Su-24M bomber aircraft by Turkey. The new phase of strengthening of the air-defense capabilities of Moscow’s military grouping comes amid the increased US-Russian tensions over the ongoing conflict.

VIDEO at link

On October 3, Washington suspended bilateral contacts with Moscow over the crisis and, de-facto, withdrew from the peace process in Syria. There is “nothing more for the US and Russia to talk about”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. Nonetheless, contacts between US and Russian military to “deconflict” encounters between their aircraft in Syrian skies will continue.

The very same day Moscow accused Washington of sabotaging the ceasefire deal, saying that the US will be responsible for any new terror attacks in Syria. The US “has never exerted any real pressure on Jabhat Al-Nusra, done nothing for delineation to succeed and taken no action against its militants,“ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that “We are becoming more convinced that in a pursuit of a much desired regime change in Damascus, Washington is ready to ‘make a deal with the devil’.”

The Syrian army, the National Defense Forces (NDF), Liwa al-Quds and Hezbollah have been advancing in Aleppo city. The loyalists are clashing with militants in the Awijah neighborhood. The Syrian army and Liwa al-Quds have set a fire control of the Jandoul roundabout after a series of firefights. This chains significantly the movement of militant units in the area. Now, Jaish al-Fatah militants need to use the Asfar and Sawmills heights to maneuver in the neighborhood.

The Syrian army and Hezbhollah advanced against Jaish al-Fatah militants inside the Suleiman al-Halabi Neighborhood of Aleppo city. Recently, the pro-government forces have entered the water foundation area. Clashes are ongoing. The pro-government forces also launched attacks on the Sheikh Sa’eed neighborhood and the missile base of Khan Tuman in southern Aleppo.

The pro-government forces keep initiative in Aleppo and the recent developments show that without active help from foreign powers, the militants will not be able to hold the city.

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The original source of this article is South Front
Copyright © South Front, South Front, 2016
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-deploys-advanced-s-300v4-anti-ballistic-missile-system-in-syria-amid-rising-tensions-between-washington-and-moscow/5549446

U.S. proxy attack on Russia embassy in Syria a dangerous sign

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October 5, 2016 – Fort Russ News –
RIA Novosti – translated by J. Arnoldski –
In the UN Security Council, the American delegation blocked a Russian statement on the shelling of Russia’s embassy in Damascus. On Tuesday, Moscow proposed that the Security Council condemn militants’ attack on the embassy building, which was subjected to mortar fire. 
As RIA Novosti was told by Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Moscow put forth for consideration at the Security Council a standard document which is usually adopted in the case of attacks on diplomatic missions.
The statement was met with dissatisfaction by the American delegation which tried to introduce “foreign elements” into it. 
“The British and Ukrainians clumsily played along with the Americans. This shows their flagrant disregard for the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations,” the permanent representative’s statement reads.
Russian diplomats reminded their colleagues that Moscow has always supported such statements concerning crimes against diplomatic missions.
Russia’ representatives concluded: “We have to admit that the moral scruples of some of our colleagues in the Security Council have seriously deteriorated.”
The embassy shelling incident took place on October 3rd. Militants fired 3 mortars at the building of the Russian diplomatic mission in Damascus, one of which exploded near the diplomats’ residential complex. 
According to the Russian foreign ministry, the shelling came from the suburbs of the Syrian capital controlled by militants of Jebat Fatah Al-Sham (formerly Jebat Al-Nusra”) and Falak ar-Rahman. 

 

The Russian foreign ministry has called the shelling of the embassy a “result of those who, like the US and some of its allies, provoke the continuation of the bloody conflict in Syria by flirting with militants and extremists of various stripes.” 

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/russia-vs-us-war-in-syria-us-proxy.html

BREAKING: Russia announces readiness to shoot-down US attack planes – Syria

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October 6th, 2016 – Fort Russ News –
– Collated sources – By Joaquin Flores –

 

In a stunning development, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov cautioned the US against carrying out airstrikes on Syrian army positions as in Syria there are numerous S-300 and S-400 Russian made air defense systems up and running, which have a a radius that may come as a “a surprise” to all unauthorized US planes in the air, as reported by TASS, RIA, and RT.

The Russian Defense Ministry explained clearly that any airstrikes or missile attacks in territory controlled by the Syrian government would put Russian personnel in danger.
These would, as a matter of policy, require both preventive or responsive measures
According to the defense official, unarmed workers of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria are also operating in these places and are delivering aid and doing community work with a large number of communities in Syria.
“Therefore, any missile or air strikes on the territory controlled by the Syrian government will create a clear threat to Russian servicemen.”, RIA quoted Konashenkov.
“Russian air defense system crews are unlikely to have time to determine in a ‘straight line’ the exact flight paths of missiles and then who the warheads belong to. And all the illusions of amateurs about the existence of ‘invisible’ jets will face a disappointing reality,” Konashenkov added.
The US’s ‘stealth’ program has been exposed, with increasing public awareness, that it is generally ineffective. The Yugoslav army shot down a US F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft in 1999, using the S-125 air defense system from 1961.
According to RT: He also noted that Syria itself has S-200 as well as BUK systems, and their technical capabilities have been updated over the past year.”
RT continued their report, stating that: “The Russian Defense Ministry’s statement came in response to what it called “leaks” in the Western media alleging that Washington is considering launching airstrikes against Syrian government forces.”
This has been confirmed – Reuters ran the report clearly citing official sources who as a matter of practice normally go unnamed.
“Of particular concern is information that the initiators of such provocations are representatives of the CIA and the Pentagon, who in September reported to the [US] President on the alleged controllability of ‘opposition’ fighters, but today are lobbying for ‘kinetic’ scenarios in Syria,” he said to TASS.
The other clear warning of Russia’s readiness to shoot-down US attack planes and respond appropriately to missile attacks (possibly from battleships), he cautioned Washington to conduct a “thorough calculation of the possible consequences of such plans.”
Russia relocated its S-300 system in order to protect Russian ships and the naval base in Tartus, which was confirmed by Russian defense officials on October 4th. Konashenkov explained that the S-300 is a “purely defensive system and poses no threat.”
Russia additionally has S-400 missile defense systems at Hmeimim air base that were placed there after Turkey downed a Russian SU-24 jet in November of 2015, which the general has reiterated will target any unidentified or aggressive planes over Syria’s skies which pose a credible threat.
 http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/breaking-russia-announces-readiness-to.html

Project Censored: News media cover-up of reason for war on Syria — a natural gas pipeline route

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Project Censored publishes a book annually of the top 25 unreported or under-reported news stories for the year. This year, the story of a major reason for the Syrian conflict was #8.

8. Syria’s War Spurred by Contest for Gas Delivery to Europe, Not Muslim Sectarianism

October 4, 2016

At least four years into the crisis in Syria, “most people have no idea how this war even got started,” Mnar Muhawesh reported for MintPress News in September 2015.

In 2011–12, after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad refused to cooperate with Turkey’s proposal to create a natural gas pipeline between Qatar and Turkey through Syria, Turkey and its allies became “the major architects of Syria’s ‘civil war.’” The proposed pipeline would have bypassed Russia to reach European markets currently dominated by Russian gas giant Gazprom. As a result, Muhawesh wrote, “The Middle East is being torn to shreds by manipulative plans to gain oil and gas access by pitting people against one another based on religion. The ensuing chaos provides ample cover to install a new regime that’s more amenable to opening up oil pipelines and ensuring favorable routes for the highest bidders.”

In 2012, the US, UK, France, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, along with Turkey, began to organize, arm, and finance rebels to form the Free Syrian Army, consistent with long-standing US plans to destabilize Syria. These nations formed a pact, “The Group of Friends of the Syrian People,” that implemented a sectarian divide and conquer strategy to overthrow President Assad. “It’s important to note the timing,” Muhawesh wrote. “This coalition and meddling in Syria came about immediately on the heels of discussions of an Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline that was to be built between 2014 and 2016 from Iran’s giant South Pars field through Iraq and Syria. With a possible extension to Lebanon, it would eventually reach Europe, the target export market.” As MintPress News reported, access to oil and gas—not sectarian differences—is the underlying cause of the violent conflict and humanitarian disaster in Syria. “The war is being sold to the public as a Sunni-Shiite conflict” by the Friends of Syria because, if the public understood the economic interests at stake, “most people would not support any covert funding and arming of rebels or direct intervention.”

Based on secret US cables revealed by WikiLeaks, Muhawesh reported that “foreign meddling in Syria began several years before the Syrian revolt erupted.” US State Department cables from 2006 documented plans to instigate civil strife that would lead to the overthrow of Assad’s government. The leaks revealed the United States partnering with nations including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt to fuel Sunni-Shiite sectarianism to divide Syria.

Although there is plenty of coverage in US corporate media about the violence in Syria and the refugee crisis that is sweeping Europe and reaching North America, this coverage has failed to address the economic interests, including control of potentially lucrative gas pipelines, that motivate the US and its allies.  (US corporate news coverage of the Ukraine crisis was comparable in that it too downplayed geopolitical oil interests as a source of tension among Russia, the US, and their respective allies, as Nafeez Ahmed has reported. See “US Media Hypocrisy in Covering Ukraine Crisis,”Censored story #9 from Censored 2015.) Instead, corporate news coverage has characterized the conflict in Syria as a battle for democracy that has been hijacked by Sunni-Shiite interests. For example, Oren Dorell of USA Today identified “a mind-boggling and dangerous stew of shifting and competing alliances” involved in the Syrian conflict—including groups categorized as progovernment, antigovernment, anti-Islamic State, and “other fighters”—but he did not address the gas interests that, according to Muhawesh’s reporting, ultimately underpin the conflict. Instead, much of what passes for news coverage in the corporate press adheres to a pattern that Muhawesh identified and critiqued as simplistic and “Orientalist,” framing conflict in the Middle East and especially Syria as sectarian in order “to paint the region and its people as barbaric.”

Mnar Muhawesh, “Refugee Crisis & Syria War Fueled by Competing Gas Pipelines,” MintPress News, September 9, 2015, http://www.mintpressnews.com/migrant-crisis-syria-war-fueled-by-competing-gas-pipelines/209294/.

Student Researcher: Salah Mouazen (Citrus College)

Faculty Evaluators: Andy Lee Roth and Lanette Granger (Citrus College)

8. Syria’s War Spurred by Contest for Gas Delivery to Europe, Not Muslim Sectarianism

To find out more information on this year’s stories and order the book: http://www.projectcensored.org

Intercepted calls – Proof of U.S. & ISIS coordination: Syrian MP goes public

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From Fort Russ

September 26th, 2016 – Fort Russ News –
– Sputnik Arabic and Al Mayadeen – translated by Marwa Osman –
Speaker of the People’s council of Syria, Hadiya Abbas, stated publicly that the Syrian Arab army intercepted calls between the US and Daesh just before the US raids against the SAA in Mount Altherdh in Deir Ezzor. The Syrian government said in related reports that it will make these intercepted calls public.
Syrian foreign minister, Walid Muallem, stated that the US air strikes on Syrian military positions in the Mount Altherdh in DeirEzzor, were not accidental fast strikes, on the contrary they came in coordination with “Daesh”, who immediately invaded the military site command of Deir ez-Zor Airport after the airstrike. Muallem said in an interview with Al Mayadeen Channel that the US air strikes on Syrian military positions in the Mount Altherdh came in direct coordination with the “Daesh” pointing out that they were not even fast strikes, rather they lasted for 50 minutes.
According to Al Muallem: “American Spy drones flew in the airspace of Deir ez-Zor two days before the US raid on the Syrian army positions” and he added that “what confirms that the US deliberately hit the SAA was that the military base had been there in Mount Altherdh for the past two years which debunks the US claim that it was an accident.”

The REAL Syria Civil Defence exposes NATO’s ‘White Helmets’ as terrorist-linked imposters — Part 1

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[Editor: I have divided this overview article into two parts]
By Vanessa Beeley
Global Research, September 24, 2016
21st Century Wire 23 September 2016

I am a director not only of a Syrian Civil Defence Unit, but of brave human beings, volunteers who risk their lives, despite the terrorism that is invading Syria, to maintain security for Syria. I give thanks from my heart for the courage of my men who have lost their comrades in terrorist attacks but they keep working despite the risks. They are true soldiers, their equipment and their spirit are their only weapons ~ Director of Tartous’ REAL Syria Civil Defence

Did I hear a pin drop?  The real Syria Civil Defence? Are the west’s iconized ‘White Helmets’ not the only emergency first-responders inside Syria?

For the REAL Syria Civil Defence you call 113 inside Syria.  There is no public number for the White Helmets.  Why not? Why does this multi-million dollar US & NATO state-funded first repsonder ‘NGO,’ with state of the art equipment supplied by the US and the EU via Turkey, have no central number for civilians to call when the “bombs fall”?

Before we introduce the real Syria Civil Defence, who are Syria’s real ICDO certified civil fire and rescue organisation, let’s first take a closer look at the imposters; terrorists in white hats, and agents of war – NATO’s pseudo ‘NGO’ construct, embedded exclusively in terrorist-held parts of Syria…

We’re told that the White Helmets routinely scale the walls of collapsed buildings and scrambling over smouldering rubble of bombed out buildings to dig a child out with their bare hands. Of course, never without a sizeable camera crew and mobile phone carrying entourage in tow.

white-helmet-camersss
Screenshot from one of the multitude of NATO’s White Helmets promotional videos, as per usual – with fans and camera crew in attendance.

So who, and what exactly are the White Helmets?

Founded in 2013, the White Helmets, officially called the Syria Civil Defense, are often the only emergency first-responders available in rebel-held areas of Syria and claim to have saved more than 58,000 lives. ~ The Slate

netflix-still2
White Helmets ‘Team’ Photo: Screenshot from Netflix promotional documentary.

jlm

British Military officer James Le Mesurier

The western media mythology goes as follows:

“They are made up of former bakers, builders, taxi drivers, students, teachers, pretty much anything apart from rescue workers,” according to the much repeated phrase used by their British ex-military, USAR (Urban Search & Rescue) trainer, James Le Mesurier who specialises in outsourcing warfare – the kind of private security operations exemplified by the likes of Blackwater (now known as Academi) and DynCorp, and other well-known global suppliers of mercenaries and CIA outreach assassination experts.

Running operations through Blackwater gave the CIA the power to have people abducted, or killed, with no one in the government being exactly responsible. ~ The Atlantic, 2012

White Helmets founder Le Mesurier, who graduated from Britain’s elite Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, is said to be an ‘ex’ British military intelligence officer involved in a number of other NATO ‘humanitarian intervention’ theatres of war, including Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq, as well as postings in Lebanon and Palestine. He also boasts a series of high-profile posts at the UN, EU, and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Not to mention his connections back to the infamous Blackwater (Academi).

The White Helmet network showing primary funding sources and James Le Mesurier connections back to deep state  (Image: UK Column)

The streaming giant, Netflix, recently launched the documentary meant to elevate the White Helmets to a Hollywood level of Madison Avenue-styled demagoguery. As an interesting aside: a major shareholder in Netflix just happens to be the Capital Research Global Investors who hosts a number luminaries of the military industrial complex on its books including Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

netflix-final
Variation on the Netflix promotional poster for the NATO White Helmet documentary.
|Poster by: Cory Morningstar of WrongKindofGreen.

Later, in Part III of this article, we will go into depth concerning the recent awards, including an objectionable nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, that have been bestowed upon this group of US, UK, EU backed fifth columnists, or as they would have you believe, “first-responders.”

With over $60 million in their back pocket courtesy of USAID, the UK Foreign Office and various EU nations like the Netherlands, this group is possibly one of the most feted and funded entities within the west’s anti-Syrian NGO complex, a pivotal part of the clandestine shadow state building enterprise inside of Syria.

Like many other ‘NGOs’, the White Helmets have been deployed by the west to derail the Syrian state, first  by undermining existing civic structures and by disseminating staged PR to facilitate regime change propaganda, through western and Gulf state media outlets. Despite the fact that they were started, and are still generously funded by NATO members states, particularly from the US and UK, the White Helmets’ official statement still claims categorically that they are somehow “fiercely independent” and “have accepted no money from governments, corporations or anyone directly involved in the Syrian conflict“. This is both farcical and deeply misleading.

They claim they are not “tied to any political group in Syria, or anywhere else”, yet they are embedded with Al Nusra Front, ISIS and affiliated with the majority of US allied terrorist brigades infesting Syria.  In fact during my recent trip to Syria, I was once again struck by the response from the majority of Syrians when asked if they knew who the White Helmets were.  The majority had never heard of them, others who follow western media noted that they are a “NATO construct being used to infiltrate Syria as a major player in the terrorist support network.”

For further details on the White Helmets and their role in supporting US & NATO state-sponsored terrorism in Syria please refer to the compilation of articles contained in the 21WIRE article: WHO ARE SYRIA’S WHITE HELMETS?

For the rest of the article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-real-syria-civil-defence-exposes-natos-white-helmets-as-terrorist-linked-imposters/5547528

U.S. bombed Syrian troops for nearly one hour, it was not a “mistake”, it was “intentional”: Bashar al-Assad

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By Press TV
Global Research, September 22, 2016
Press TV 22 September 2016

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that US airstrikes on Syrian troops on Saturday were “intentional” and lasted for nearly one hour.

In an interview with the Associated Press conducted Wednesday, Assad said the attack targeted a “huge” area constituting of many hills, “so it was definitely intentional, not unintentional as they claimed.”

The US Central Command has said it may have unintentionally struck the Syrian airbase in Dayr al-Zawr while carrying out a raid against Daesh and that the strikes were stopped in less than five minutes when Russia called the US to halt it.

Daesh militants briefly overran government positions in the area until they were beaten back.

“How could they (Daesh) know that the Americans are going to attack that position in order to gather their militants to attack right away and to capture it one hour after the strike?” Assad asked.

“It wasn’t an accident by one airplane… It was four airplanes that kept attacking the position of the Syrian troops for nearly one hour, or a little bit more than one hour,” he said.

“You don’t commit a mistake for more than one hour,” Assad said in the interview.

US behind collapse of ceasefire

Assad also blamed the US for the collapse of a ceasefire deal brokered with Russia.

The strikes contributed to the collapse of the truce and cast serious doubt on chances for implementing an unprecedented US-Russian agreement to jointly target Daesh.

Assad said Washington “doesn’t have the will” to join the fight against Daesh, which the US, Turkey and their allies have cited as the reason for their military intervention in Syria.

Syrians who fled the country could return within a few months if the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar stopped backing militants, he added.

Assad said the war, now in its sixth year, is likely to “drag on” because of what he said was continued external support for Takfiri terrorists and numerous militant groups.

“When you talk about it as part of a global conflict and a regional conflict, when you have many external factors that you don’t control, it’s going to drag on.”

‘US lies’ about aid convoy attack

Assad also rejected accusations that Syrian or Russian planes struck an aid convoy in Aleppo and denied that his troops were preventing food from entering the militant-held part of the city.

“If there’s really a siege around the city of Aleppo, people would have been dead by now,” Assad said, asking how militants were able to smuggle in arms but apparently not food or medicine.

The attack on the aid convoy outside Aleppo took place Monday night, hitting a warehouse as aid workers unloaded cargo and triggering huge explosions.

US officials have oscillated between blaming the Syrian government and the Russian military for the attack. At one point, they have described a sustained barrage that included barrel bombs.

One Thursday, however, the AP quoted an unnamed “senior US administration official” who claimed a Russian-piloted aircraft carried out the strike.

Assad dismissed the claims, saying whatever American officials say “has no credibility” and is “just lies.”

Russia has called for an independent investigation into the attack and has published a footage from a drone which apparently shows a militant vehicle towing a mortar alongside the aid convoy.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said an armed US drone was in the vicinity of the humanitarian aid convoy that was hit by the airstrike.

War ‘savage’

Assad also brushed aside what is often described as eyewitness accounts to accuse the Syrian army, while acknowledging the war had been “savage”.

“Those witnesses only appear when there’s an accusation against the Syrian army or the Russian (army), but when the terrorists commit a crime or massacre or anything, you don’t see any witnesses.”

The original source of this article is Press TV
Copyright © Press TV, Press TV, 2016

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-bombed-syrian-troops-for-nearly-one-hour-it-was-not-a-mistake-it-was-intentional-bashar-al-assad/5547213

US-Russia diplomacy in crisis: “Something very serious transpired” over Syria, “behind the scenes”

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By Sputnik
Global Research, September 27, 2016
Sputnik 27 September 2016

The current “level of violence in verbal attacks” on Russia at the UN is unprecedented,” Gilbert Doctorow, European Coordinator for the American Committee for East West Accord told Radio Sputnik, adding that this seems to indicate that something grave must have happened between the two countries with regard to Syria behind the scenes.

The United States and Russia have lashed at each other over the Syrian conflict, with Washington and Moscow trading blows at the urgent UN Security Council meeting on Sunday.

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who has never been known “for her diplomatic talent,” as Doctorow put it, accused Russia of “barbarism” in Syria. She added that Moscow and Damascus ostensibly “make war” instead of “pursuing peace.” She also blamed both governments for “bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive.”

“We reached a new low,” the analyst said.

Doctorow described the US’ behavior at the UN as “rude.” He also noted that such rhetoric has been absent from the UN Security Council meetings for decades. We have not seen “this level of open hostility and direct name calling” since 1985.

“The violence of this, the extreme hostility implicit in these actions suggests that something more is going on between the two sides than we find on the front pages of the newspapers,” the analyst observed. Latest developments seem to point that “something very serious has transpired between Russia, the United States and its closes allies over Syria – far more serious than what has been in the public domain.”

Doctorow further said that the US-coalition airstrike on the Syrian Arab Army in Deir ez-Zor and the SAA resuming air raids in Aleppo are not sufficient to explain this level of verbal hostility.

On Monday, Damascus said that the Syrian intelligence services have an audio recoding of communications between US forces and Daesh prior to Deir ez-Zor attack that claimed the lives of at least 62 Syrian servicemen on September 17.

“It could be true, but it will have no implications because truth is the least of the factors on the playing field today,” the analyst noted.

Doctorow recalled that the Western media did not cover the Russian Defense Ministry’s press briefing over Daesh’s illegal oil trade with Turkey.

Ammunition and ‘Guns of Hell’: Rare Glimpse of Handarat Camp in Aleppo “That was dramatic. It was a fantastic demonstration. What was the result? Zero. There was no coverage in the Western press although all of NATO military attaches in Moscow were scribbling furiously and taking as many photos of the Russian flights as they could,” he said.

In Doctorow’s opinion, the Syrians and the Russians “can prove anything they like,” but mainstream media in the West will “totally” ignore it. “That is a sad fact today. This is why force and not diplomacy seems to be resolving the question or seems to be addressing the question of what future Syria has. Diplomacy has only been decorative.”

The original source of this article is Sputnik
Copyright © Sputnik, Sputnik, 2016
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-russia-diplomacy-in-crisis-something-very-serious-transpired-over-syria-behind-the-scenes/5548073

Has the CIA’s plot to “covertly” kill Russians in Syria come to pass?

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By The New Atlas
Global Research, August 09, 2016
The New Atlas 9 August 2016
Former acting director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Michael Morell during a televised interview with American talk show host Charlie Rose, openly conspired to commit a raft of war crimes in Syria, suggesting that the US should take measures to ”covertly” kill Russians and Iranians through armed proxies on the ground.

He also suggested targeting Syria’s senior leadership through a series of terrorist attacks in and around Damascus, according to CBS News.

During the interview, Morell would state:

I’d give them the things that they need to both go after the Assad government but also to have the Iranians and the Russians pay a little price. When we were in Iraq, the Iranians were giving weapons to the Shia’a militia who were killing American soldiers. The Iranians were making us pay a price. We need to make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. We need to make the Russians pay a price.

Charlie Rose would then interrupt Morell to clarify by stating:

You make them pay the price by killing Russians? And killing Iranians?

To which Morell replied emphatically:

Yes. Yes. Covertly. You don’t tell the world about it, right? You don’t stand up at the Pentagon and say we did this. Right? But you make sure they know it in Moscow and Tehran. 

Morell’s plans echo those laid out by other US policymakers, including those at the Brookings Institution.

And indeed, this appears to be precisely what the US has already been doing. At least two Russian helicopters have been shot down over Syria. The first near the Syrian city of Palmyra by terrorists from the self-proclaimed Islamic State using what Russian sources claimed was a US-made TOW anti-tank missile system, which is also capable of shooting down slow, low-flying aircraft.

The second more recently was over territory in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province controlled by US State Department-designated foreign terrorist organisation, Jabhat Al Nusra. The helicopter was engaged in humanitarian operations relieving a town besieged by Western-backed militant groups.

Nursa forces are now leading a US-backed offensive on the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Both incidents appear to be the precise manifestation of Morell’s admitted conspiracy to kill Russians covertly, with Moscow apparently having gotten the message, and subsequently relaying it to the rest of the world by linking the incidents to US-armed terrorist organisations.

“Morell’s Plan” Could Never Work 

Morell’s plan to kill Russians and Iranians, has not deterred Moscow or Tehran. Unlike the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, predicated on a premeditated lie as clearly exposed by the recent UK government-published Iraq Inquiry, Russia and Iran are engaged in Syria at the behest of the Syrian government.

Furthermore, their objective is not simply to project Russian and Iranian power beyond their borders, but to prevent the collapse of Syria into a NATO-induced Libya-style failed state that will serve as a staging ground for the spread of war back over their own borders. In other words, unlike the US’ intervention in Iraq seeking extraterritorial geopolitical gain, Russia and Iran’s intervention is based on very real and immediate existential concerns.

Thus, Morell’s plan to kill Russians and Iranians was an ill-conceived attempt to convince both nations to capitulate to US designs in Syria today, so that an even greater loss of Russian and Iranian lives could be embarked upon by wider proxy war in the near future.

In the process of organising this ill-conceived plan, the US has now further implicated itself as a state-sponsor of terrorism, further undermining its own pretext for intervention in Syria to allegedly “fight terrorism.”

With US-made TOW missiles conveniently, or very likely, covertly falling into the hands of designated terrorist organisations and being turned against Russian and Iranian forces, the US has also further undermined its own narrative revolving around its primacy as a stabilising force both within the region and globally.

Russian woman in Aleppo shields children against explosion, loses leg & hand

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From RT

August 4, 2014

A Russian woman was seriously injured when a huge explosion rocked her relatives’ house in Aleppo, Syria. Irina Barakyat heard a terrible roar outside and rushed to cover her daughter and son from the bomb. Saving their lives cost her a leg and a hand.

Barakyat is married to a Syrian man and has been living in Aleppo for the past 13 years. She was asked by her mother-in-law to come by to give an injection to her husband, who recently had a stroke. Barakyat agreed, taking her three children with her with a plan to stay overnight.

“When we woke up in the morning, I heard a terrible roar. I’ve never heard anything like that before. I realized I had to act without losing any time. My elder son and daughter stood nearby. I jumped on them, stretching my arm and leg, covering my kids. I heard a rumble, then saw my father-in-law lying on the floor. He was not breathing. My mother-in-law was injured. My children stayed alive because I had covered them. My son only broke a limb, and my daughter didn’t sustain any injuries. My middle son had been sleeping in his room when the bomb went off.”

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US-backed Syrian rebels responsible for toxic gas attack in Aleppo – Russian military

Barakyat had her right leg amputated below the knee. Her left leg also sustained serious injuries, but will heal, her doctor says. She also had to part with her hand.

The injured woman says she doesn’t want her five-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 13 and 10, to visit her in hospital.

“I don’t want them to see me in this state,” she says, looking exhausted and frail. “My daughter is at my friend’s place. My sons are staying with their uncle.” Barakyat’s friends want to send her to Russia to get better treatment at a hospital in Moscow.

Last week, Russia and Syria launched a large-scale humanitarian operation for Aleppo residents, opening three humanitarian corridors for civilians and one for the passage of fighters.

Opposition fighters willing to “lay down arms” were promised amnesty by Syrian government forces. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu noted that the fourth corridor was set up only because the US failed to provide Russia with data on Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, which has recently been attempting to merge with other armed opposition groups in Syria.

At least seven civilians died and 25 more were injured on Tuesday as terrorists fired shells, some containing toxic gas, at Aleppo, local health officials said as cited by Syria’s official SANA news agency. The shelling occurred amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the city. The violence comes amid a dire humanitarian crisis in Aleppo which “is on the verge of running out of food and other essential supplies,” a recent statement by Amnesty International said.

Despite the increasing number of settlements adhering to the Russia-US brokered ceasefire regime, which came into force on February 27 this year, not all the groups claiming to belong to the “moderate” opposition are observing the truce. In June, militants from an Al-Qaeda-linked group, Jaysh Al-Islam, shelled a UN humanitarian convoy near Damascus, according to reports from the Russian Defense Ministry.

https://www.rt.com/news/354627-woman-shields-children-syria/