In a move that appears to have been directly precipitated by Russia’s warning about US warplanes being treated as “targets” earlier in the day, Central Command (Centcom) has announced that they are repsositioning US aircraft that are deployed inside Syria.
While Centcom cited “recent encounters” with Syrian and Russian planes, they didn’t directly draw a link between this and Russia’s own threats, which followed the US shooting down a Syrian military aircraft, and amounted to warning the US to keep its planes out of all parts of Syria except for the Kurdish territory and ISIS-held parts being contested by the Kurds. In conceding the move was about ensuring the safety of air crews, however, Centcom effectively conceded it was Russia related.
This has been a long-standing concern since both the US and Russia started having their own aerial operations inside Syria, with serious concern that they would conflict and lead to clashes. So long as they were both targeting ISIS and al-Qaeda, that risk was limited.
With the US increasingly shifting its aerial focus to attacking pro-government forces in Syria, instead of just ISIS, the risk is also growing substantially, as Russia’s comments today make it clear they don’t intend to let the US attack Syrian government targets with impunity.
I guess it comes down to how many S300 missiles Russia put into Syria. Surely they have more than 100, plus the short range systems at their airbases that’s allot of F18’s being targeted simultaneously. The only way the USA can stop this is by targeting Russian facilities and that would provoke retaliation from Russian territories. I sure wouldn’t want to be with American special forces inside Syria once this starts.
“With the US increasingly shifting its aerial focus to attacking pro-government forces in Syria”
That, and the motives behind it, are the real story that needs to be investigated more deeply.
“…real story that needs to be investigated…”
Well, good luck with that happening. The military “investigates” itself. Surprise conclusion? Right. Need I say more?
And Congress puts together a committee, spends millions of US taxpayer $$$$ to produce a report they won’t allow anyone, especially the US taxpayer, to read and then they go play golf or troll the cathouses in DC or N’awlins.
This article should never have been published, as it contains nothing news worthy, as in new reality and condition’s readers to think that this WEB site is not worth reading.