Turkey Admits Act Of War Against Russian Bomber

On November 24, a Turkish Lockheed Martin-produced F-16 warplane willfully targeted and downed a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria airspace.

At the time, Ankara was caught red-handed lying, claiming it violated Turkish airspace. The action was a clear act of war – complicit with Washington, ordered by Erdogan after getting Pentagon permission. It was no accident.

Moscow informs Washington of its daily Syrian sortie flight paths – to avoid accidental US/Russian confrontation in the same airspace.

The Pentagon informed Turkey’s General Staff for the sole purpose of permitting the attack on the Russian bomber. Ankara officials released a statement, containing precise information of the timing and flight paths of Russian sorties in Syrian airspace, according Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov.

The statement issued by Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus “can be taken as Turkey officially admitting (it) planned the deliberate attack on the Russian jet and murder of Russian servicemen,” Konoshenkov explained.

Turkey’s General Staff knew the precise time and location of Russian aircraft when it downed the Su-24 bomber. Putin justifiably called it a “stab in the back.”

Normal Moscow-Ankara relations won’t resume as long as Erdogan remains in power – an international criminal, a world-class thug impossible to trust.

US/Moscow relations remain hostile. Washington bears full responsibility. Virtually no coordination between Russian and US-led forces against Syrian targets exist. Each campaign has polar opposite objectives – Russia’s real war on terrorism v. US-led coalition’s phony one.

Separately, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2258 on Tuesday – authorizing continued humanitarian aid to Syria through January 10, 2017, without Damascus’ approval.

Senior Russian UN mission counsellor Vladimir Safronkov expressed concern about Security Council failure to adopt Russia’s proposal for UN monitoring of “all cargoes going to Syria and declared as humanitarian.”

“We are seriously worried that supplies of weapons to militants do not end, and foreign terrorists-militants from all over the world keep joining the ranks of the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups,” Safronkov explained.

“Unfortunately, that flow goes via Syrian borders, often even via the same checkpoints where the UN mechanism work.”

Turkey was caught red-handed smuggling weapons cross-border to ISIS and other terrorist groups. Much of what enters Syria is for military, not humanitarian, purposes. “This needs to be stopped,” Safronkov stressed.

In 2016, Russia intends supplying its own humanitarian aid to Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other countries. It provides regular deliveries to war-torn Donbass, Ukraine, a lifeline it vitally needs.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”. www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html Visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.