Early Thursday, Pentagon officials claimed, in a story first reported through CNN, that of the 26 cruise missiles fired by Russia the prior day at ISIS and al-Qaeda targets in Syria four of the missiles failed, and crashed into Iran. They offered no evidence for this claim.
By evening, both Russia and Iran were offering denials of the claim, with Russia’s Defense Ministry saying they’d shown the launch of each of their rockets as well as the targets they struck, and that none of them went missing along the way.
Iran’s Defense Ministry expressed surprise at the claim as well, saying they had no reports of any missiles crashing into their country, and saying they believed the reports were part of an “intensified western propaganda war” surrounding the ISIS war.
Russia’s cruise missiles were said to have flown over Iranian and Iraqi territory on their way to Syria, fired from the Caspian Sea. Many expressed surprise that the Russian missiles had sufficient range to be used in such a way.
So our guys just lied?
If you're American, yeah. No big surprise, eh?
This is a pretty much desperate last ditch attempt to pretend that Russian equipment is “aging” or “useless”. Of course it’ll fool nobody – except the McDonald’s-eating soap-opera watchers who get their “information” from two minute propaganda videos on CNN. Bit those are the people who will vote Killary Klingon to power, and that is all that matters.
Sounds to me more like the US might be envious. It also sounds like the USG is concerned that the Russians might just be successful in shutting down ISIS in Syria which includes all those vaguely defined "moderate rebels" the US is supposedly supporting. Perhaps the US is more concerned that the Russians might be screwing the US pooch by ripping the sheepskin off the back of the US wolf for the entire world and especially the American public to view? Is that why the USG is so desperate to stop the Russian interference?
I don't think anybody need worry about Putin (or anybody else!) "shutting down " ISIS. Standing armies always lose against insurgencies. Also, I don't think the US wants to stop Russian interference. They just want to force the little man to bog himself down in Syria. Putin is a typical European populist. He has no policies, he just struts up and down thumbing his nose at people and things he doesn't like. He doesn't like the US, so the best way to get him into the Syrian quagmire is for the US to try to stop him. He's fallen into that trap every time before.
A more interesting point is what targets in Syria the missiles actually hit. The Russians seem to be keeping quiet about that, which will fuel suspicions that they are attacking rebels and not ISIS. Equally, one might ask what possible use cruise missiles could be against insurgents. I can't see how they could hit anything without causing widespread collateral damage.
Why do you bother to write, if you absolutely refuse to learn anything. The missiles have targeted ISIS infrastructure — you can yourself find out what — and there are pictures before and after. The noise about the "missing" missiles is to insure that there is as little talk about the event. It is rather clear why.
Thank god you aren't in charge of anything. From your little computer screen, you aren't likely to see what's going on, even if you're monitoring the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (a fat boy from Coventry UK). Rest assured, Russia has on-the-ground intelligence about the sites being bombed.