Russian aircraft believed to hit Syria convoy, U.S. officials say

[Little Tich]

Source: Reuters

The United States believes two Russian aircraft attacked an aid convoy near Aleppo in a strike that shattered a one-week truce, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, but Russia denied involvement.

Despite the military blame game over Monday's deadly attack, diplomats struggled to save the U.S.-Russian ceasefire agreement that took effect on Sept. 12.

The incident, in which 18 trucks from a 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed, looked likely to deal a death blow to diplomatic efforts to halt a civil war now in its sixth year.

Two Russian Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes were in the skies above the aid convoy at the exact time it was struck late on Monday, two U.S. officials told Reuters, citing U.S. intelligence that led them to conclude Russia was to blame.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-aid-idUKKCN11Q0VX

[Cayenne]

1. Not buying it

Looking at those pictures I notice the frames are mostly intact. Those trucks were looted and burned down or maybe hit with RPGs at most. A 300 pounder would leave a crater and twisted metal and SU-24s don't do strafing.

[jamzrockz]

3. You know

This would be very easy case to solve if a certain country and their group of nation destroyers who are not authorized to fly in Syrian airspace were violating it.

The rebels from another article said they saw a helicopter drop a barrel bomb, now they have changed their minds to 2 jets bombing it. For me, if the Syrian and Russian govt said they did not hit it, I will be inclined to believe them. I actually would prefer that they hit the aid instead of the rebels stealing it.

[Blue_Tires]

8. So why did the Russians stop filming the convoy at the time of attack?

https://twitter.com/RobPulseNews/status/778327357895696385

[Cayenne]

9. Predator was on station to

“We are not in a position to determine whether these were in fact airstrikes. We are in a position to say that the convoy was attacked,” a representative of the UN for Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, said. According to his words, mention of the air strike in the early edition of the UN document is a result of a drafting error.

http://katehon.com/news/un-removes-false-charges-against-russia-syria

No way those trucks were hit with 300 pound bombs. They'd have been obliterated.

[JackRiddler]

2. "Shattered the truce" !

Uh hello? If anything "shattered the truce," and I really hope it's not shattered, it would have been last week's US strike on the Syrian Army, "honest accident" or not, killing 62 Syrian soldiers and allowing ISIS to retake a town.

[LarryNM]

4. MIC Needs the Russian Bad Guy. Same old same old. eom

[Blue_Tires]

7. Maybe Russia should stop being the "bad guy" and bombing UN aid convoys?

[Eugene]

5. U.S. calls on Russia and Syria to ground all aircraft in northwest Syria

Source: Washington Post

U.S. calls on Russia and Syria to ground all aircraft in northwest Syria

By Karen DeYoung September 21 at 2:54 PM

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State John F. Kerry called on Russia and Syria on Wednesday to “immediately ground all aircraft” flying in key areas of northwest Syria where a humanitarian convoy was destroyed Monday, and accused Moscow of inventing its “own facts” to explain the air attack for which Russia is responsible.

“The simple reality is we cannot resolve this crisis if major parties .?.?. are unwilling to do what’s necessary to avoid escalation,” Kerry told the U.N. Security Council. “We don’t get anywhere by ignoring facts and denying common sense.”

Kerry’s caustic intervention came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced “emotional reactions” to the strike on the convoy and called for a “serious” investigation of the incident. After suggesting that the attack was perpetrated by terrorist ground forces active in the area southwest of Aleppo, Moscow newly implied that it could have been a U.S. drone.

Amid the charges and counter-charges, speakers to the council pleaded for cooperation that could lead to a genuine cease-fire in the five-year civil war, and excoriated the international community as a whole for not ending the carnage.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-calls-on-russia-and-syria-to-ground-all-aircraft-in-northwest-syria/2016/09/21/ea602cbc-8013-11e6-8d0c-fb6c00c90481_story.html

[Blue_Tires]

6. Any of our resident Putin cheerleaders care to address this?