After Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian Su-24 over northern Syria this morning, the two Russian pilots parachuted out. They were dead before they hit the ground, as US-backed Turkmen rebels opened fire on them while they were still in the air, killing both.
The rebels danced around the corpse of one of the Russian pilots in a video, cheering his death and shouting Allahu Akbar. Turkish officials had been railing against Russian airstrikes against the Turkmen rebels, claiming they amounted to international human rights violations and would not be tolerated.
Russia has been active in airstrikes in Latakia and Idlib, in northwestern Syria, aiming to help recover Syrian territory from a number of Islamist rebel factions, by and large allied to the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. The Turkmen group has gone unnamed in reports so far, and it is unclear how closely affiliated they are with this Islamist coalition.
That the group bragged about killing the Russian pilots and are openly brandishing US-provided weapons, however, can’t be a good sign for US-Russian relations in the wake of this most recent incident near the Turkish border. President Obama has endorsed Turkey’s attack as “self defense,” despite the Pentagon confirming the plane was in Syria when attacked and conceding they were “unsure” if it ever violated Turkish airspace in the first place.
One early video shows one pilot apparently landing alive and retrieving his chute. I guess it'll be a while until we know the fate of all the Russians.
he made it to safety
Yup, thanks, it looks like RT will interview him at some point.
Shooting at parachuting aviators is a war crime. Since this was done by the US's proxy fighters, the US is directly responsible. And the Turkish F-16 would never have fired at the Russian jet without US approval.
Wrong. As long as the aviators are in the air, they have not surrendered and are therefore liable to be shot as active combattants. The people on the ground don't have to wait for the pilots to land and then ask them politely if they wish to surrender (while the pilots are shooting them!). The second sentence is also wrong in law and the third is a classic piece of American racism. The Untermenschen never do anything without being told to do it by the American master race!
Didn't know that it's a war crime. Thanks.
Obama is a complete idiot.
Guerilla wars are always dirty wars. As Harry Truman said, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.