Russia
warns it will shoot down alliance jets over Syria if US launches air
strikes against Assad
6
April, 2017
Russian
forces could shoot down coalition jets if the United States launches
airstrikes against pro-government forces in Syria, the Russian
ministry of defence has said.
American
officials have reportedly discussed using limited airstrikes to force
Bashar al-Assad’s government to halt its assault on Aleppo and
return the negotiating table after a ceasefire collapsed last month.
In
Moscow’s starkest warning yet against Western intervention in the
war, Russia’s chief military spokesman said that any airstrikes on
government-held territory in Syria would be considered a “clear
threat” to Russian servicemen.
Maj.
Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russia would consider any strikes on
government held territory a threat to its troops and would respond
accordingly.
US
military planners should “carefully consider the possible
consequences” of such action, Major General Igor Konashenkov said
in a statement on Thursday.
“Today,
the Syrian army has effective S-200, Buk and other air defense
systems, which have undergone technical renovation in the past year,”
he said.
“I
remind US 'strategists' that air cover for the Russian military bases
in Tartus and Hmeymim includes S-400 and S-300 anti aircraft missile
systems, the range of which may come as a surprise to any
unidentified flying objects,” he added.
Russian
air defence troops would not have time to identify the flight path of
incoming rockets or aircraft that fired them, and would respond
immediately, Maj. Gen. Konashenkov added.
Volunteers
carry an injured person on a stretcher following Syrian government
airstrikes on the rebel held neighbourhood of Heluk in Aleppo last
week.
Volunteers
carry an injured person on a stretcher following Syrian government
airstrikes on the rebel held neighbourhood of Heluk in Aleppo last
week. CREDIT: THAER MOHAMMED/AFP
Officials
from the State Department, CIA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed
using limited airstrikes to pressure Bashar al-Assad to halt an
assault on Aleppo and return to the negotiating table at a meeting in
the White House last week, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The
discussion came after the United States suspended bilateral
consultations with Russia over Syria, saying that Moscow had failed
to live up to commitments to rein in a ferocious aerial and ground
assault on the opposition-held eastern districts of Aleppo.
Russia
earlier rejected a calls from John Kerry, the US Secretary of State,
for a total suspension of military flights over Syria in order to
restore the ceasefire.
Moscow
blames the collapse of a short lived ceasefire on a US-led alliance
airstrike that mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian government soldiers
on September 17. Maj. Gen Konashenkov said measures had been taken to
prevent a repetition of such “mistakes.”
The
US believes Russia and the Syrian regime destroyed the ceasefire when
they bombed a humanitarian convoy in revenge.
Russia
announced the deployment of the S-330 VM, an advanced anti-aircraft
missile that can also intercept cruise missiles, to Syria on Tuesday.
Thursday's
warning came as the Russian foreign ministry appeared to accuse the
United States of involvement in a mortar attack on its Damascus
embassy.
No
one was hurt in the attack on Monday, which saw several rounds landed
in the compound of the Russian embassy. The ministry said it believed
the shells had been fired from a rebel-held neighbourhood.
“We see links between
this terror attack and the threats Washington issued against us
earlier,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign
ministry.
She
was referring to comments by John Kirby, a US State Department
spokesman who said last week that Russia had an interest in stopping
the violence in Syria because extremists could exploit the vacuum
there and launch attacks "against Russian interests, perhaps
even Russian cities."
There
has been mounting speculation in the Russian media that the crisis in
Syria could lead to military confrontation or even war with the
United States.
Several
newspapers have run prominent features asking whether Russia would
act to protect her Syrian allies in the event of US airstrikes
against pro-government troops or infrastructure.
The
implications, many have noted, are alarming.
“If
Moscow is silent, her geopolitical significance will be reduced to
zero. If she answers – that is already a big war,” warned
Nezavisimaya Gazeta noted on Thursday.
Semen
Bagsadov, director of the Centre for Middle East and Central Asian
Studies, told Moskovsky Komsomolets, a tabloid, that the Soviet Union
had downed US aircraft over Korea and Vietnam without triggering a
Third World War.
Others,
however, have urged caution. Konstantin Sivkov, an expert at the
Russian artillery academy, told the independent NSN new agency that
war was unlikely because the United States could wipe out Russia’s
air contingent in Syria “in a few days.”
Spiraling
tensions between the US and Russia appeared to reach a peak this week
when Vladimir Putin suspended a plutonium reprocessing deal because
of “unfriendly” American policies
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