September 20, 2018
By Judah Ari Gross
An Israeli military delegation (click here) held a number of high-level meetings with Russian officials in Moscow on Thursday in an effort to defuse tensions over the downing of a Russian plane off the coast of Syria during an Israeli airstrike earlier in the week.
The Israeli officials, led by air force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, showed their Russian counterparts the Israel Defense Forces’ initial investigation of the incident, which the army said showed Syria, not Israel, to be responsible for the downing of the Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft and its 15 crew members....
...Donald Trump said "...it was sad...." Sad. Israeli jets were in Syria on a mission to end the transfer of serious weapons to Hezbollah (this defense posture with Hezbollah and Syria's assistance within it's territory is not new) and Trump addresses the Russian jet as being "very sad." Trump is incompetent.
What is a Russian jet doing in the proximity of Israeli jets and then a Syrian missile is in the air intended for an Israeli jet. I guarantee you Syria didn't know the Israeli jets were there until the explosion of munitions intended for Hezbollah on a Syrian military base. Yet in no time there is a Russia jet in the air and a Syrian missile at the same time. There is a lot in questions here.
No one wants Israel to become aggressive at the borders to Syria, but, that has to be set aside if Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are in cooperation over munitions and military hardware. This is the reason there needs to be a summit and an end demanded to any hostilities. When incidents like this occur the details have to be sorted out. It would be better, especially if deaths are occurring if there simply was a clear understanding the fighting and dying in Syria will end.
What if the Russian jet fired on an Israeli jet? What if the Syrian missile destroyed or brought down an Israeli jet? The entire situation would be different and there would be war chants instead of meetings about friendly fire. This is not acceptable. Syria is unstable, it's defenses are questionably sufficient and the mischief with Syria and Iran is something even Russia cannot control. I doubt Russia knew about the Hezbollah shipment, yet it's jet was air bound for Israeli jets. None of this is acceptable and Trump is very sad.
The United Nations desperately needs to summit and bring about a plan to end the fighting and dying and recover Syria to a state of stability and peace for the people. Iran cannot continue to escalate the hostilities in the region, including with the Houthis.
September 18, 2018
11:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump (click here) is expressing concern about a Russian plane that was shot down over Syria.
Trump, appearing at a White House news conference with the president of Poland on Tuesday, called it a "very sad thing" and said it was "not a good situation."
But the president also said that the United States has done a "tremendous job" battling the Islamic State group in Syria. He went on to suggest that the nation's mission there was "very close to being finished."
The Russian plane was believed to be shot down by the Syrian regime's anti-aircraft fire....
I might add Iran denies any supply of missiles to the Houthis. This is from "Sputnik," a Russian media outlet.
...Responding to the collection of claims on Sunday, (click here) IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said that it was ridiculous to suggest that Iran could send any weapons, and particularly advanced ones such as missiles, to a country that's been subjected to a Saudi coalition blockade for nearly three years....
Ending a dangerous regime such as Daesh is not an excuse for a greater war. This needs a summit. The end of these conflicts are not the least in sight.
...As for the real source of the weapons, the senior officer said that Yemen has a sufficient stockpile of its own missiles, which the Houthi rebels have successfully "overhauled."...
Any so called proof presented by the USA has to be received in speculation of tampering as was evident from the Iraqi invasion under George W. Bush. The parties involved in these conflicts have to end their hostilities and conditions for the people have to improve with disarmament of any groups that cannot bring about a secure sovereign state.
