Great stuff out of Putin. He has everyone by the bollix
We have long been recording the movement of a large amount of oil and petroleum products to Turkey from Isis-occupied territories. This explains the significant funding the terrorists are receiving. Now they are stabbing us in the back by hitting our planes that are fighting terrorism. This is happening despite the agreement we have signed with our American partners to prevent air incidents, and, as you know, Turkey is among those who are supposed to be fighting terrorism within the American coalition.
If Isis is making so much money – we are talking about tens or maybe even hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars – in oil trade and they are supported by the armed forces of an entire state, it is clear why they are being so daring and impudent, why they are killing people in such gruesome ways, why they are committing terrorist attacks all over the world, including in the heart of Europe.
It’s a tough day for Moscow. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that Syrian fighters destroyed a Russian helicopter with a missile, shortly after they forced it to make an emergency landing in a nearby government-held area in Syria’s Latakia province.
A Syrian insurgent group, which receives US Tow missiles, said its fighters hit the helicopter with an anti-tank missile while it was in the air and put out a video showing the helicopter being blown up after one of its fighters struck it with another missile.
Rami Abdulrahman from the Observatory said at least 10 people were on the helicopter when it was hit but they were all evacuated when it landed and before the missile destroyed it.
Videos onlone of the chopper being blown up. Sketchy reports that the 18 soldiers on board the helicopter were in a firefight with rebels on the ground.
Apparently that Syrian Observatory for Human rights is one lad in his gaff in Coventry with about as much credibility as that gives you. Just translates twitter stuff and reports it. Hasn’t been in Syria in ten years or some such.
He gets some amount of coverage, I wonder is he making much out of it.
The United Kingdom-based SOHR is run out of a two-bedroom terraced home in Coventry by one person, Rami Abdulrahman,[3] a Syrian Sunni Muslim who also runs a clothes shop.
“I calculate that each “incursion” over Turkish territory would have lasted about 10 seconds, assuming the plane was flying slowly at 600mph. That Turkey shot down the plane for this is madness, and absolutely indefensible. It is fairly obvious from the track that the plane was operating against Turkish sponsored Turkmen rebels inside Syria, and that is why the Turks shot it down.”
Pentagon: “This is Turkey and Russia. This is their incident,” he said. “Our focus is on ISIL. The US military’s feeling is our mission is to fight ISIL in Syria and Iraq. … That’s what we’re focusing on.”