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Why
Is The U.S. Silently Bombing Syria's Electricity Network?
19
October, 2015
The
Aleppo power plant is a 1,000 megawatt thermal plant in five units
build by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in 1995-1998. It is situated some
25 kilometers east of Aleppo city center. During the fighting
around Aleppo various electricity distribution stations were damaged
and electricity in parts
of the city has
become scarce and unpredictable. But the main power station had so
far not been hit.
The plant is in the hands of the Islamic State but there is an informal agreement between the government, which controls the distribution network, and those who hold the power generating station:
[T]he agreement of understanding pertains to the division of the electricity supply between the parties, whereby ISIS will receive 60% of the quota and the Syrian regime will receive 40%.
Both
sides will have some electricity and the civilian as well as fighters
on both side will be better off than without electricity. No side has
a motive to destroy that plant.
A military source told SANA that warplanes of the Washington alliance violated Syrian airspace and attacked civilian infrastructure in Mare’a, Tal Sha’er, and al-Bab in Aleppo countryside on Sunday.
The source added that the warplanes attacked the biggest electric power plant that feeds Aleppo city, which resulted in cutting off power from most neighborhoods in Aleppo city.
Just
a week ago U.S. air attacks had attacked another power station and a
big distribution transformer al-Radwaniye also east of Aleppo.
The
electricity generation and distribution system is civil
infrastructure. It is used and useful to everyone no matter what side
of the conflict. After the first U.S. attack on a power station a
week ago the Russian president Putin was asked about the strikes.
He called them
"strange":
"On Sunday, the American aviation bombed out an electrical power plant and a transformer in Aleppo. Why have they done this? Whom have they punished there? What’s the point? Nobody knows," the president said at a meeting with the Russian government members.
The
Russians and the Syrians are sure that it were F-16 planes from the
U.S. coalition that bombed the power infrastructure even though the
coalition reports do
no mention the
attacks. Why are these bombings not mentioned in the U.S. coalition
reports?
The
U.S. claims it is only fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
It accuses Russia of not only attacking ISIS even though Russia, and
Putin himself, always
said that
ISIS is not their sole target but that supporting the Syrian
government against all its enemies is the overarching aim. The
Russian just snuffed
out a
16 vehicle ISIS convoy. Something that the U.S. somehow never manages
to do. The U.S. itself, by the way, has killed and kills some
non-ISIS "moderate rebels".
All its complains against the
Russians are just nonsense.
But
why would fighting ISIS or this or that "moderate rebel"
terrorist necessitate the destruction of valuable infrastructure
which serves all sides of the Syrian society?
Without
the plant Aleppo city, with some 2-3 million inhabitants and
refugees, as well as the surrounding areas in Aleppo governate have
no electricity. The damage the U.S. bombing caused will make sure
that any repair will take a long time. This will make life for people
on every side of the war more unbearable and more people will leave
to seek refuge in foreign countries.
Is
that the purpose of the U.S. bombardment of electricity
infrastructure in Syria? If not what else is this supposed to
achieve?
Russia teaching israel the basics of International Law by banning israeli jets over Lebanon
Report:
Russia blocks Israeli jets over Lebanon
Lebanese
newspaper claims Israeli jets turn back after confrontation with
Russian aircraft over northern Lebanon.
Russian
forces warned Israel over IAF flights in Russian controlled airspace
near the Syrian–Lebanese border area after Israeli jets were
detected nearby, according to a report Friday in the Lebanese media
outlet As Safir.
The
report comes a mere day after Russia announced that it had
established a “hotline” with Israel in order to coordinate aerial
activity over Lebanon and Syria.
Russian fighter jet in Syria (Photo: EPA)
As
Safir quoted Lebanese diplomatic officials who were “in the know,”
as saying that the warning was issued after Russian radar identified
Israeli aircraft approaching Russian-controlled airspace two weeks
ago.
“Russian aircraft immediately blocked the Israeli jets’ path while they flew above the Akkar region in northern Lebanon. The Russians immediately sent a clear warning to the Israelis that entering Syrian airspace would be a pretext for opening fire,” the source said.
According
to the paper, which is considered loyal to Hezbollah, the Israeli
aircraft quickly heeded the warnings and changed their course. The
incident occurred mere days after talks were held between Israeli and
Russian officials regarding the shared airspace. The report claimed
that the Russian message instructed the Israelis to stay away from
Syrian airspace.
Lebanese
officials quoted in the report said that Israeli aircraft typically
fly over northern Lebanon on a daily basis, “and tended to fly on a
path above the Akkar region, later conducting reconnaissance in a
circular pattern above the Lebanese territorial waters, eventually
reaching the Syrian territorial waters.”
The
report quoted an official as saying that, “Their goal was to
observe the movement of ships in the port of Tartus, as well as
tracking the air traffic coming in an out of Latika airport – out
of concern over possible weapons transfers to Hezbollah.”
The
same official claimed that the Lebanese army had noticed a decline in
Israeli over flights since the warning was issued on the first of
October, but clarified that flights in the area remained ongoing.
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