Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Russia Claims That A U.S. Drone Was In the Air When The UN Syrian Aid Convoy Was Hit In A Military Strike

A boy rides a bicycle near a damaged aid truck after an airstrike on the rebel held Urm al-Kubra town, western Aleppo city. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

Wall Street Journal: Russia Suggests U.S. Drone May Have Hit Aid Convoy in Syria

Military spokesman counters U.S. claim that Russian aircraft were responsible for the strike

MOSCOW—Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday an armed drone belonging to the U.S.-led coalition was in the vicinity of a humanitarian aid convoy that was hit by an airstrike Monday in Syria, countering an assertion by American intelligence agencies that Russian aircraft conducted the strike.

In a televised briefing, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, reasserted that Russia wasn’t responsible for the strike—and indirectly suggested that a pilotless coalition aircraft may have been involved in the incident.

Gen. Konashenkov said a drone had been observed “in the exact place” where the strike occurred, at an altitude of 11,800 feet. The aircraft, he added, was launched from Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey.

“Only its owners can answer the question of what this drone was doing at that exact place and in that specific time, and what instructions it had carried out,” Gen. Konashenkov said.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said there were no American or coalition aircraft, armed or unarmed, in the convoy’s vicinity at the time of the attack.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The Pentagon is denying these Russian reports .... Pentagon denies Moscow's claim that US may have bombed aid convoy in Syria (FOX News). What's my take .... if the Russian Ministry of Defense wants to make this stick, they need to put forward the evidence that proves their case. Otherwise this is all talk.

More News On Russian Claims That A U.S. Drone Was In the Air When The UN Syrian Aid Convoy Was Hit In A Military Strike

Syrian Civil War: Russia Accuses US Drone Of Bombing UN Aid Convoy -- IBTimes
Russia says U.S. drone was in area where U.N. convoy was struck in Syria -- Reuters
Russian military says U.S. drone was nearby when Syrian aid convoy hit -- AP
US coalition Predator drone spotted at time & place of Syria aid convoy attack – Russian military -- RT

11 comments:

fazman said...

The u.s needs to put up proof for its assertion also.
To me the wrecks look like a fire and seem largley intact, not like the twisted hulks from a airstrike

Id say a rebelset up ground strike from rpg etc, or incendiary loaded on trucks at point of origin then detonated on arrival.

Jay Farquharson said...

It looks like a "hell cannon" strike to me, the improvised, used 20lb propane canister mortars the jihadi's use.

One was in the truck using the convoy as cover.

The propane canister's are filled with homemade amatol explodives and use any impact dentonator they can get, often RPG's with defective ricket motors.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8EaPr6C0I

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MLRTsp1O5WU

They are basically a short range, not that accurate 335.4 mm mortar, with a large blast burn and concussive effect, with very little shrapnel. If the amatol mix is diesel rich, then there is more burn than blast.




RRH said...

I agree. The vehicles would've been little more than burnt grease spots. We would have seen the cratering and blackened ground so common in other post-strike photos.


e.g.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5xHJ8MZi4bc/hqdefault.jpg

https://goo.gl/images/uGKudj

https://goo.gl/images/nropdI


The damage we see in the Aleppo photos isn't consistent with what we've seen in the past.

This whole thing stinks of a fix 'em up between Washington and their proxies. The SAA, let alone the Russians had nothing to gain, thus no motive for striking this convoy. The U.S. and friends, on the other hand, had everything to gain in a frame up.

War News Updates Editor said...

I have a Russian source who told me the following this evening ... and mind you this is a Russian government source. The Pentagon and the U.S. intel community made it very clear that they did not want to cooperate with Russia on Syria when the truce was agreed upon last week. You had an air strike on a Syrian military position that killed 80 Syrian soldiers .... a guarantee if there ever was one to scuttle the truce .... but it did not work. Russia and Syria still wanted to proceed .... and to put the air strike behind them. Two days later we have a strike on an aid convoy .... a military strike that would have brought nothing to either Russia or Syria .... but a sure guarantee for those who do not want this truce to continue that the truce would collapse .... which it did. This blog has been reporting and chronicling wars and conflicts for years .... and while I do not have any direct intel or source of information on what has happened in the past few days in Syria ... I do have my instincts .... and my instincts tell me that this whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Anonymous said...

So the Russians point out in their aerial film of the convoy, the presence of a mobile mortar. Initially they seemed to use that as cover or a reason to treat the convoy as an aid/ militants resupply mix. So why would they not decide to strike. Seems logical in the twisted logic of war to hit the enemy and also pay back the us for their misfire on Syrian troops.

Anonymous said...

Does it really matter any longer who does what in Syria? The US induced power vacuum has created more sides and factions killing and destroying than any conflict in recent history. Moderates? Old joke about moderates in the middle east. They are the factions who ran out of ammo.

The fact is they all lie and it is the citizenry who are
kept in the dark by design.

bn said...

What a joke you are WMU, like Kerry said yesterday you (russians) live in a parallel Universe.


Your lies are so crazy, you have no values that everything counts ...bs

Assad, russians, iranians, NK are all the same *. The world would be better without these cancers.

In 1Y you are going to say that was UKR that invaded Russia, That was the rebels that were raining bombs in Syria from the sky, etc etc


RRH said...

There is no "parallel universe" there is truth, material reality, interests, and credibility based on history.

On all of those scores, your posisitions, Miguel, reek of an intentional (and highly suspect) mis interpretation of the situation.

Jay Farquharson said...

The Russian's don't "plink" $10,000 "Technicals" with imporvised weapons from the air with $800,000 missiles, or $600,000 bombs.

The Russian air tactic is to find a large concentration of jihadi's, in a convoy, combat positions or rear areas, and then using either cheap artillary, or unguided bombs, saturate the area.

Tanks get their turrets ripped off , trucks are torn in two or flipped over, there are massive craters everywhere, some 10 feet deep, and everything inside the compact "strike zone" is destroyed.

bn said...

RRH what are you saying mn??!

Check the reality https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/09/22/russian-bomb-remains-recovered-syrian-red-crescent-aid-convoy-attack/

Jay Farquharson said...

Really, citing Brown Moses?

Desperate arn't you, you know he's "pay for play"?