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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRussia issues stern warning to U.S. against striking Syrian army
MOSCOW -- The Russian military on Thursday strongly warned the United States against striking the Syrian army, noting that its air defense weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.
The statement underlined high tensions between Moscow and Washington after the collapse of a U.S.-Russia-brokered Syria truce and the Syrian armys offensive on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said any U.S. strikes on areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assads government could jeopardize the lives of Russian servicemen.
He said Moscow was worried by media reports alleging that Washington was pondering the possibility of striking Syrian army positions.
I would recommend our colleagues in Washington to carefully weigh possible consequences of the fulfillment of such plans, Konashenkov said.
Russia responded with dismay to the U.S.-led coalitions air raid on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour that killed 60 Syrian soldiers on Sept. 17, rejecting the U.S. explanation that the attack was a mistake.
Konashenkov said we have taken all the necessary measures to prevent any such mistakes with regard to Russian servicemen and military facilities in Syria.
He said the range of Russias S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems deployed to Syria would be a surprise to any country operating its aircraft over the country. Konashenkov added that the Syrian army also has various Soviet- and Russian-built air defense missile systems, which have undergone modernization over the past year.
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Since Russia has launched its air campaign in Syria in support of Assads forces a year ago, the Russia and the U.S. militaries have maintained contacts to prevent any midair incidents between Russian warplanes and the aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in the skies over Syria.
Konashenkov warned, however, that the Russian military wont have time to use the hotline if it sees missiles on their way to targets in Syria.
Warplanes continue brutal assault on Aleppo
Warplanes continue brutal assault on Aleppo
It must be understood that Russian air defense missile crews will unlikely have time to clarify via the hotline the exact flight program of the missiles or the ownership of their carriers, he added.
In an apparent hint at the U.S. stealth aircraft, he added that any dilettante illusions about stealth planes could collide with disappointing realities.
The Russian military announced Tuesday that a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems had been sent to Syria to protect a Russian facility in the Syrian port of Tartus and Russian navy ships off the Mediterranean coast.
Tartus is the only naval supply facility Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.
The deployment has added more punch to the Russian military force in Syria, which already includes long-range S-400 missile defense systems and an array of other surface-to-air missiles at the Hemeimeem air base in Syrias coastal province of Latakia.
Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Assad since Sept. 30, 2015, saving his army from imminent defeat and helping it win key ground.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-issues-stern-warning-to-us-against-striking-syrian-army/
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pampango
(24,692 posts)would not have died.
I don't think the US is going to interfere in the ongoing Russian/Syrian slaughter from the air in Aleppo. Assad wants his city back and is willing to destroy it and its people in order to accomplish that. He needs some help and is getting it.
moondust
(20,014 posts)King of the Carnage!!!
Bashar the Annihilator!!!
I vote to let the Pottery Barn rule apply to Syria if it ever comes to cleaning the place up so that humans might live there again. Good thing Bashar and Vlad have deep pockets.