Russia's Attack On U.s.-backed Rebels In Syria Puzzles, Frustrates The Pentagon

Jezie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
2,380
Reaction score
126
Interesting not more is said about this...

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...a-bomb-american-backed-syria-rebels/86289354/

One week after Russian aircraft bombed American-backed rebels in Syria, U.S. officials say they are still waiting for Russia to explain the incident that has put the two militaries at risk of confrontation.

Russian aircraft on June 16 dropped cluster bombs on a New Syrian Army unit garrisoned at a base in al-Tanf, a remote desert outpost where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.

The New Syrian Army unit is a product of the American-backed train-and-equip program. Its mission is to fight Islamic State militants in Syria and to avoid confrontation with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

The Russians provided no explanation for the strike, which violated the “memorandum of understanding” between the U.S. and Russia that was put in place last year, and designed to maintain flight safety and avoid misunderstandings as the two major militaries share the same airspace and support different factions of the multi-sided civil war.

The New Syrian Army's presence at al-Tanf was widely known.


“We were very surprised by the strike. ... This was not an area where I'd say it's complex or complicated,” British Army Maj. Gen. Doug Chalmers, a deputy commander with the international coalition battling ISIS, told Pentagon reporters Thursday.

Chalmers said the strike killed and wounded some of the New Syrian Army troops, but he declined to say how many. There were no U.S. combat advisers with the New Syrian Army unit.

Immediately after the Russian strike, the U.S. military scrambled two F/A-18 Super Hornets to the area to provide support for the New Syrian Army units. When those aircraft left the area to refuel, Russian aircraft returned and conducted additional strikes, a U.S. defense official said.

U.S. officials sought to contact the Russians through communications channels established under the memorandum of understanding, but the Russians did not immediately respond, a U.S. defense official said.

Two days after the strike, both sides convened a high-level video conference to discuss the matter, where the U.S. military “expressed strong concerns about the attack.”
American military officials "requested Russian responses to address those concerns," according to a statement released by the Pentagon last weekend.

So far, however, the Russians have not provided any detailed response, a U.S. official said Thursday.

“We have been in touch with the Russians since Saturday, and we continue to have a dialogue with Russia regarding this issue, to include how to avoid such incidents in the future,” the Defense Department said in a statement issued Thursday. “We have been clear that they should not strike forces at the Al-Tanf area, and they have expressed their intention not to do so. Beyond that we will not get into the details of this ongoing dialogue.”

American military officials said the Russian strikes appeared to have no strategic value for the Russians, whose primary goal has been to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. New Syrian Army forces at al-Tanf are focused on fighting ISIS, not Assad's forces.

In March, U.S. troops deployed to Jordan launched their first rocket artillery attack into Syria, hitting ISIS targets near al-Tanf in support of the rebels battling to seize the outpost there. The border town was held by ISIS since May 2015, and provided a key link between ISIS territories in Syria and Iraq. It's located south of Palmyra and to the east of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
 
well to be fair....america doesn't have the best success at arming rebel groups, ie taliban, mujahadeen, fadian, al qeada, so on so forth..

we can assume its all better now, or we can assume these groups currently being armed prob aren't the saints the pentagon make them out to be..
i know few if any have seen it. here.

but very recently an american backed group in syria was decapitating children and posting the vids on the net.
 
No doubt... the US has had questionable taste in allies, decisioms, and groups backed... but if someone bombs said group they should be able to provide answers. Firthermore, if they will attack American backed groups, when will it lead to attacking American soldiers head on? Where these leads and why it was done is important...
 
do they have to provide answers?
does america tell them on who it bombs for its reasons?
russia doesn't have to tell america squat, that's the beauty of having nukes...its very hard to be bullied...instead you need to be reasoned with..sucks for the bully but that's the way it is on street blocks with kids or with nations armed to the teeth.

the world tells america don't invade iraq america says F you and does it anyway, creating a mess worthy of biblical proportions. so i'm not sure who should be whining about others not telling others who bombs who.

your last question is the same question ivan asks too, america bombs who it supports, america backs those who bombs who it supports so when will america just start the bombing of ivans own ground troops?

america had one the greatest opportunities in it's history when the soviet union collapsed to forge a true alliance with them for a better future, instead america propped up and supported a drunken stooge (yelsten) whos friends raped the nation, as america rubbed their nose in defeat for years...access to anything it wanted during the collapse....then worked to have the remains be sold off to criminal rackets....all for what?

both ivan and america had the same enemy ie islam, yet we know who supported whom don't we...

tihngs come back with a very nasty bite to haunt you..
 
It could make Syria unstable with ISIS so it could end up with many decades of civil war like Sudan did for 40 years.
 
do they have to provide answers?
does america tell them on who it bombs for its reasons?
russia doesn't have to tell america squat, that's the beauty of having nukes...its very hard to be bullied...instead you need to be reasoned with..sucks for the bully but that's the way it is on street blocks with kids or with nations armed to the teeth.

the world tells america don't invade iraq america says F you and does it anyway, creating a mess worthy of biblical proportions. so i'm not sure who should be whining about others not telling others who bombs who.

your last question is the same question ivan asks too, america bombs who it supports, america backs those who bombs who it supports so when will america just start the bombing of ivans own ground troops?

america had one the greatest opportunities in it's history when the soviet union collapsed to forge a true alliance with them for a better future, instead america propped up and supported a drunken stooge (yelsten) whos friends raped the nation, as america rubbed their nose in defeat for years...access to anything it wanted during the collapse....then worked to have the remains be sold off to criminal rackets....all for what?

both ivan and america had the same enemy ie islam, yet we know who supported whom don't we...

tihngs come back with a very nasty bite to haunt you..
Do they have to provide answers... not unless Russia wants to increase tensions... an answer really is not hard to provide. Even if was because they had Intel that this group was murdering children or anything ... answer help while assumptions lead to problems. Each nation is its own, as such should be allowed to do as it will, yet multiple countries are in the middle east right now for various reasons...to keep the countries from fighting directly will take a lot of egg shell walking from many nations.
The US has had many prime opportunities yet it peed down its leg in the end, this is not surprising....
 
in the end really
once america decided to invade irag under false pretences and tell the world F you, it lost almost all its wiggle room in demanding anyone to answer it..and for the most part in the eyes of the world has been sliding as a beacon of something to even pay respect too, big guns aside.


thats one of the big issues besides the mass murder of innocents, that deed ruined almost all of american "credit" with most nations including canada frankly..
yes we are friends but don't kid yourself to think doing that didnt literally kill almost all goodwill towards america prior to it even amongst friends..
now its been a while since then yes..
and the mess it has caused, i mean to state clearly america and britain caused for doing that is still being felt, thus you have all these armed to the teeth nations over there in close proximity..

in the end once america screamed F you to the world then, well putin and his kind will play that also when it suits them...
lessons we learn as children nations have to learn too it seems.
 
in the end really
once america decided to invade irag under false pretences and tell the world F you, it lost almost all its wiggle room in demanding anyone to answer it..and for the most part in the eyes of the world has been sliding as a beacon of something to even pay respect too, big guns aside.


thats one of the big issues besides the mass murder of innocents, that deed ruined almost all of american "credit" with most nations including canada frankly..
yes we are friends but don't kid yourself to think doing that didnt literally kill almost all goodwill towards america prior to it even amongst friends..
now its been a while since then yes..
and the mess it has caused, i mean to state clearly america and britain caused for doing that is still being felt, thus you have all these armed to the teeth nations over there in close proximity..

in the end once america screamed F you to the world then, well putin and his kind will play that also when it suits them...
lessons we learn as children nations have to learn too it seems.
Yep...
 
Back
Top