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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    U.S. and Russia Agree to Regulate All Flights Over Syria

    U.S. and Russia Agree to Regulate All Flights Over Syria

    By NEIL MacFARQUHAR OCT. 20, 2015

    MOSCOW — Russia and the United States signed an agreement on Tuesday that regulates all aircraft and drone flights over Syria, the defense departments of both countries announced.

    At a Pentagon briefing, Peter Cook, the department’s press secretary, said the agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, established safety protocols requiring both sides to maintain professional airmanship at all times, use specific communication frequencies and establish a communication line on the ground.


    Anatoly I. Antonov, the Russian deputy defense minister, said in a statement, “The memorandum contains a set of rules and restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between the Russian and U.S. aviation.” He did not go into details, but said it had “important practical significance.”


    The text of the memo was not released. Mr. Cook said the Russians had requested that it not be shared. He declined to elaborate on the ground communication line, including where exactly it would be located, but described it as a backup resource to “have real-time conversations” in case something went wrong with the air communications.


    Mr. Antonov suggested that more concrete steps needed to be hammered out, including round-the-clock communications channels that would be established between the two relevant military commands and cooperation on issues like joint assistance in “critical situations.”


    Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, told reporters that an agreement was important because the number of aircraft aloft in recent days had increased noticeably, with as many as 30 combat aircraft sharing the skies over the same area simultaneously.


    “There are military transport planes, combat aircraft and drones of various size, including attack drones,” General Konashenkov was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.


    Although Russia said it had deployed more than 50 aircraft to Syria to fight the Islamic State, the attacks that started on Sept. 30 have mostly targeted central areas controlled by groups opposed to the Syrian government other than the Islamic State militants.


    One of the reasons that President Vladimir V. Putin was also believed to be intent on interfering in Syria was to try to break Russia out of the diplomatic isolation imposed by the West over the Syria crisis, and the agreement Tuesday appeared to be a step in that direction.


    At the Pentagon, Mr. Cook emphasized that the agreement did not establish the sharing of intelligence or target information in Syria and that it did not “constitute U.S. cooperation or support for Russia’s policy or actions in Syria.”


    “We continue to believe that Russia’s strategy in Syria is counterproductive and their support for the Assad regime will only make Syria’s civil war worse,” said Mr. Cook, referring to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.


    The statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry expressed disappointment that the agreement was limited to technical military matters.


    “The Russian side was seeking a more substantial agreement,” it said.


    Moscow had proposed a number of specific measures to deepen Russian-American military cooperation to counter the threat from international terrorism, the statement said.


    Speaking to senior law enforcement commanders at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Mr. Putin reiterated that Russia had deployed its military in Syria to prevent the threat from the Islamic State from spreading beyond the Middle East.

    “By creating a stronghold in Syria and a number of other Middle Eastern states, the terrorists have been making plans to expand their activities and destabilize entire regions,” Mr. Putin said.

    The Russian Defense Ministry had asked the United States to provide information about targets in Syria, but American officials have said privately that they fear that Syria will target groups supported by the United States and that such cooperation might feed suspicions among opposition groups that Washington and Moscow were allied against them.


    Russia was also looking for closer cooperation in cases where aircraft are shot down or are forced to making an emergency landing, the statement said, including joint search and rescue missions. Washington rejected the idea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.


    Finally, the Russian statement added the standard line that every official, starting with Mr. Putin, makes when discussing its role in Syria — that Russia has the legitimate right to be there because it was invited by the government Damascus, whereas the United States-backed coalition is bombing Syria against international law.


    The agreement Tuesday does nothing to change that, the Russian statement said.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/wo...ver-syria.html

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  2. #2
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    Russia is making us look foolish...


  3. #3
    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnDoe2 View Post
    Russia and the United States signed an agreement on Tuesday that regulates all aircraft and drone flights over Syria, the defense departments of both countries announced.
    One meaning for the word "drones" is unmanned aircraft. Considering that the article had to mention drones and aircraft the intended meaning of "drones" must be male bees.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    We need to pull our planes out of the way and let Russia handle this. My opinion.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Syria conflict: Russian air strikes 'killed 200 civilians'





    At least 200 civilians were killed in Russian air strikes in Syria in the two months to the end of November, an Amnesty International report says.

    Quoting witnesses, the human rights group accuses Russia of using cluster bombs in civilian areas and says such attacks could constitute war crimes.


    Russia's defence ministry dismissed the report as containing "fake information" and "trite cliches".


    It also rejected Amnesty's accusations about cluster bombs, Reuters reports.


    Amnesty said in its report it was also researching concerns about the US-led coalition air strikes in Syria.


    The US has rarely acknowledged civilian deaths in its air bombardment of the so-called Islamic State (IS), which began in September 2014, although some monitoring groups say the toll could run into hundreds.


    'Russian strikes kill scores' in Syria

    Activists criticise Raqqa air strikes


    Russia began air strikes in September this year, saying it was acting at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is targeting IS and other groups it designates as terrorists - some of which are backed by the West.


    'No military targets'


    In the report, Amnesty said it had "researched remotely" more than 25 Russian attacks that took place in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo between 30 September, when the Russian air campaign began, and 29 November.

    It had interviewed by phone or over the internet witnesses to the attacks, and had audio and video evidence, as well as "advice from weapons experts". Amnesty said.


    It said there was evidence that Russia's military "unlawfully used unguided bombs in densely populated areas and inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions".

    Image copyright Reuters Image caption Activists have accused Russia of targeting civilians, including in the city of Idlib

    Image copyright AP Image caption Russia says it is targeting Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria

    Amnesty set out its findings into six attacks - each of which, it said, caused dozens of civilian casualties, but had no obvious military target nearby.

    On 29 November, for example, it said at least one suspected Russian warplane fired three missiles into a busy public market in Ariha, in Idlib province.


    A local activist group said a total of 49 civilians were either killed or missing and feared dead.


    "It was a normal Sunday; there was nothing unusual. People were buying goods; children were eating," the activist, Mohammed Qurabi al-Ghazal, told Amnesty.


    "First there was a loud explosion - dirt flying in the air - followed immediately by shock. In just a few moments, people were screaming, the smell of burning was in the air and there was just chaos."


    He said the armed group Jaysh al-Fateh controlled the area, but did not have any presence inside Ariha itself.


    "Some Russian air strikes appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians," Amnesty's Philip Luther said.


    "Such attacks may amount to war crimes," he added.



    A report by another group, Human Rights Watch, three days ago accused Syrian government forces and their Russian allies of making "extensive" use of cluster munitions against rebel groups.

    Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday Russia was "conducting its operation in strict conformity with principles and norms of the international law".


    The Kremlin has previously described similar reports as "information warfare" aimed at discrediting its operations in Syria.


    President Vladimir Putin said in October that reports of alleged civilian casualties had emerged before the first air strikes were even carried out.


    More than 250,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began in Syria in March 2011.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35162523
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