Further cooperation on the settlement of Syrian crisis between Russia and the United States is going to be revised by the US side in connection with an alleged air strike on UN humanitarian convoy in Aleppo province.
The US is going to revise a further cooperation with Russia on the settlement of Syrian crisis in connection with an alleged air strike on the UN humanitarian convoy in Aleppo province, spokesman for the US Department of State said.
On September 19, a convoy of dozens of vehicles, which were sent to the province of Aleppo by the UN, came under fire in the area of Urum al-Kubra in the north-west of Aleppo. The Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN accused the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) of firing the humanitarian convoy. Meanwhile, the Western media blamed the Russian Aerospace Forces for bombing the convy.
At the same time, head of the Operational Command of the Russia’s General Staff, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy, said during a briefing that there were not checkpoints at the area of the Castello Highway, though militants, controlled by the US, should be responsible for this. He also stressed that the West is trying to create a pretext for accusing Damascus and Moscow in disrupting of the humanitarian operation.
As an expert of the Narodnaya Diplomatiya (People’s Diplomacy) fund and a representative of the Budushcheye Segodnya (Future Today) expert-analytical club, Sergey Prostakov noted, the statement of the US Department of State was made after the US Air Force had carried out airstrikes on the Syrian Army’s units, confronting the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor, and before the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham has started its offensive in the area of Aleppo.
“In both cases, the government forces, defending the legitimate power that the US is still trying to overthrow, have suffered. For this reason, now, Lavrov’s and Kerry’s agreement on a temporary truce in Syria looks like a tactical ploy, which gave terrorist groups an opportunity to bounce back from the defeat near Aleppo,” Prostakov told the FAN news agency. “Actions of the US diplomatic department were initially focused on deception of the Russian side, and aimed to providing a respite for illegal armed groups. In this case, we cannot speak about any fight against international terrorism by the US, but should speak about a direct support for the terrorism,” the expert noted.
According to Prostakov, another reason of the failed armistice agreement could be internal contradictions in Washington. Then, actions of the US military, which bombed the Syrian Army, could be explained by the fact that the militarist wing of the US elite aspired to thwart the agreement, reached by the diplomats, using any way, even the most defiant one. In this case, any agreements with the US administration, at least during Obama’s presidency, lose any sense because of inability of the US government to control its compliance.
“The war in Syria has become convenient and profitable for many, and the US side is one of the main, if not the most important, reasons for its continuation. A stubborn desire to redraw the borders in the Middle East in interests of the US leads to a continuing spread of violence throughout the region and international terrorism on a global scale,” Prostakov noted. “Once again, the US has shown that it is not a reliable partner, and agreements with Washington are of little value because of the high risk of its non-compliance,” the expert concluded.
Russia this is an easy question. Did Russian or Syrian aircraft bomb the UN aid convoy uloading at the facility. Both Russia and Syria were given information and the location of the facility, so did Russia or Syria commit this criminal act, and yes it is a criminal act. It was within range of your S400 so you know who did it. Or did you mistake the facility for a hospital?
There was a hospital bombed as well. 5 airstrikes over a 2 hour period. Russia or Syria bombs the UN and then waits for the wounded to be transported to the local hospital, and then the “Double Tap”. You people are a degenerate sub-human life form.
Tom, these stories always conveniently pop up in the western media at the expense of major events, namely no one in the western media mentions why the ceasefire collapsed. This leads me to believe that these are fabrications.
The Russians made the following claims, none of which got reported on CNN: 1. The U.S. made no effort or was unable to separate ‘moderate rebels’ from Al Qaeda rebel groups.
2. The U.S. did not even provide the location of moderate rebel groups because they are intermixed with Al Qaeda groups, only a list of their names.
3. The Russians provided a precise number of times that moderate groups violated the ceasefire and the number of govt troops and civilians killed by these violations. The U.S. did not provide a counter number regarding alleged govt violations. The Russians allege no govt violations.
I think that it is a huge story that the U.S. is supporting Al Qaeda aligned rebels to overthrow Assad yet this has never been reported in western Media in these precise terms. Instead, they go with these emotive reports, people are dying …
the UN said: the convoy was hit by 4 rockets, but they are not sure that it was an air raid but of course you know everything before it happens it seems that you’re from the Uneducated States of America
humanitarian operation is a convoy of trucks you stupid ass troll how will they shoot trucks with the s-400 go get a life
When you use hospitals and aid convoys to resupply and rearm terrorists then those aid convoy’s and hospitals become legitimate targets and will remain so no matter how much you whine and cry in the media.
I think if this was something done by Assad´s side, it will remain in the news for a very long time. However, if this was something done by rebels, it will soon disappear from the news. So, I am waiting to see.
I have a more basic question. If the Syrian govt has Aleppo surrounded then it is possible for an aid convoy to get into the rebel held part of Syria by originating from say, Latakia. This way they only need to get one set of permissions, don’t need to go through multiple countries, or checkpoints.
So my question is this, why didn’t the U.N. or Red Crescent originate from Syria instead of Turkey?
This would have been about 10 times easier. By originating from Turkey they are then creating suspicion that they might be including weapons and adding all of the complications that I mentioned above.
There are several different aid routes with their own stories, Chris. The UN convoys going into eastern Aleppo city on the Castello Highway originate in Syrian government held territory, but are not being allowed in to east Aleppo city by the rebels themselves at their checkpoints They want to pack the aid trucks themselves from their own sources that are sent in to their territory. I’m sure you can guess why. At the same time, other rebel groups in east Aleppo are claiming that Syria/Russia are intentionally withholding the aid and none of it is reaching them. The UN convoys are packed and waiting to go, it’s the rebels and their Castello highway checkpoints that refuse to let them enter.
One of those convoys (a Syrian Red Crescent convoy) was allowed into east Aleppo by the rebels, unloaded at night and was subsequently attacked. Details are confusing because many reports confuse this attack (if it even happened) with the one below. The east Aleppo one was most likely a rebel infighting to steal the aid for their own groups.
There was a different UN aid convoy that was sent from government-held territory on the southwest side of Allepo city. That particular one wasn’t destined for the rebel-held east side of the city – it was going west (away from Aleppo city) into the Aleppo Governate countryside to Urem Al-Kubra. Details are confusing surrounding that one because 31 trucks were sent, but only 20 made it to the city. This was probably due to each rebel warlord taking a few trucks as skim off the convoy as ‘tax’ for allowing the rest of it to pass. This apparently happened a few times ‘costing’ the convoy 11 truckloads of aid in on it’s journey. Some of that convoy was reported as bombed/burnt, but nobody is sure if this was on the main convoy or just on some of the trucks diverted as ‘tax’. A lot of the details don’t match up with the times and supposed locations of this convoy, and some seem to refer to the attack on the convoy in east Aleppo, not this one.
The UN and Red Crescent are assembling and staging the convoys in Syrian government-held territory because that’s the only authority they can negotiate with. The Syrian government prefers this arrangement because it can’t trust Turkish convoys. Nobody knows who is in charge of any rebel-held territory, and it’s often several overlapping groups. It took days just to get the various groups to agree to permit the convoy to Urem Al-Kubra, and they still ripped off over a third of that aid for themselves.
Russia and Syria’s arguments about bombing these convoys is “Why would we?” since they originate in government-held territory to begin with. They know when the convoys leave and where they’re suppose to end up, but that’s it. It’s up to the UN or Red Crescent after that.
Why is it that this sites tries to explain things of the syrian/russian site which dont get much attention in the western media. But when the Russians / Syrians are accused of bombing an aid convoy (cant be argued that this is a good thing), u dont try to explain what happend, but only try to weaken the story.
The fake ‘Russia bombing’ would have been much more convincing if they had been a bit more clever about what pictures to take. This tweet has a photo of what we are suppose to believe is a pile of unloaded aid at the warehouse (truck in background) that was struck by some type of air-dropped munition.
While I appreciate Gissur’s mad detective skillz, his ‘incriminating’ evidence proves that neither the SyAF nor the RuAF had anything to do with this. he shrapnel holes are indeed indicative of something blowing up next to the stacks of cardboard boxes, but even a non-military person with zero experience with the types/effects of explosives can clearly see this was caused by something far smaller than the smallest bombs/rockets either the Syrians or RuAF use (which would have obliterated the entire area, not made a few shrapnel holes and dust). If I had to guess, I would say a small mortar round or RPG. Which means a rebel mortar or RPG – the SAA is nowhere near this area.
https://twitter.com/GissiSim/status/778216902132981760
Since this was an aid delivery point well inside the rebel-held area, then I would also have to conclude this was one of the threatened al Nusra (or various head-chopper) attacks on any UN aid coming from the Syrian side – threats which have been made since the beginning of the cease-fire. The convoy originated from Syrian-held territory on the southwest side of Aleppo and traveled a few tens of km west to this unloading point.
Update: more Twitter detectives have spotted what appears to be a stabilization ring of a Russian air-dropped OFAB 250-270 bomb under the cardboard. Since such a weapon has an explosive charge of over 90kg (200 lbs) of TNT/RDX mix, I would have expected the truck to be rolled over on its side, most of the concrete wall gone, and no unscorched shreads of the cardboard boxes or their contents within 50m or so and certainly nothing visible in the picture frame. So if 200 lbs of high explosive did not detonate in that spot, then there should be an unexploded OFAB 250 proving a Russain air strike. Seems like the photographer could have at least kicked the cardboard boxes off the unexploded bomb (if it existed) to show the world the evidence. The BBC footage of the same scene also avoids any closer view or a different angle of what would surely be incriminating evidence. Yet nothing? And that still leaves the shrapnel unexplained on the boxes if the bomb didn’t even explode. Seriously, the only thing this scene lacks is a nobel-prize-winning White Helmet running by carrying a dusty child to safety. I expect Eliot Higgins and BellingCat to weigh in in 5… 4… 3… (but I see Charles Lister has already beaten him to the punch)
https://twitter.com/zulamba/status/778295112640200705
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-20/moscow-denies-russian-syrian-planes-struck-aleppo-aid-convoy
“No airstrikes were carried out against a humanitarian aid convoy in a southwestern suburb of Aleppo by Russian or Syrian aviation. Seeing as the convoy’s route lied through the territories controlled by militants, the Russian reconciliation center monitored its passage yesterday via drones,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday.
According to the general, the monitoring finished when all humanitarian aid was delivered at around 10:40 GMT.
“Further movements of the convoy were not monitored by the Russian side. Only the militants controlling this area know details of the convoy’s location,” Konashenkov added. The examination of video footage reveals no signs of an ammunition strikes on the convoy, he said.
“We have carefully studied videos by so-called activists from the site and found no signs of any ammunition striking the convoy. There are no shell holes, cars’ bodies are not damaged and there are no construction faults from the bust wave. All shown on the footage is a direct consequence of the cargo being set on fire. The fire strangely coincided with a major offensive by militants in Aleppo.”
The ministry emphasized that the perpetrator of the fire, as well as his goal may be known by members of the “White Helmets” organization that has connection to al-Nusra Front terrorists who have “accidentally” been at the right time and in the right place with cameras.
According to the official, al-Nusra Front terrorist group carried out an artillery attack on the southwestern suburb of Aleppo using multiple launch rocket systems