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Rebels in Aleppo attack, Putin cautious on new Russian raids
By Omar Haj Kadour and Karam al-Masri
Aleppo, Syria (AFP) Oct 29, 2016


Russian, US jets had near miss over Syria: US officials
Aboard A Us Military Aircraft (AFP) Oct 28, 2016 - A Russian fighter flew dangerously close to a US warplane over eastern Syria, US defence officials said Friday, highlighting the risks of a serious mishap in the increasingly crowded airspace.

The "near miss" occurred late on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane manoeuvred near an American warplane, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian said.

The Russian jet came to "inside of half a mile" of the US jet, he added.

Another US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the American pilot was buffeted by the turbulence from the Russian jet's engines.

"It was close enough you could feel the jet wash of the plane passing by," the official said.

It appeared the Russian pilot had simply not seen the US jet -- either on radar or visually. It was dark and the planes were flying without lights.

"I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those (planes) operating together," Harrigian said.

The incident raises serious questions about the extent to which pilots can track the complex airspace they operate in.

- Hotline to Russia -

Fearing a mishap, the US-led coalition last year set up a hotline with Russian counterparts to discuss the approximate locations and missions of planes.

In this case, the American pilot tried unsuccessfully to reach the Russian jet via an emergency radio channel.

The next day, US officers used the hotline to ask Russia what had happened, and they said "the pilot didn't see" the American plane, the official said.

The rate of close calls has increased over the past six weeks, Harrigian said, with Russian jets intentionally flying close to a coalition plane every 10 days or so.

"An intercept would be when an aircraft rolls in behind one of our aircraft. Could be a tanker, could be a B-52" bomber, Harrigian said.

US officers typically contact the Russians afterward.

We'll "make sure they know we are concerned about that and try to get an understanding of why they felt the need to do it," Harrigian said.

"Typically, it's not a very satisfying answer."

Coalition planes and drones operate in the skies over parts of Syria on a near-continuous basis.

That air traffic will grow heavier still as coalition-backed forces ramp up operations to recapture Raqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State group's "caliphate".

Further complicating matters, Turkish and Syrian regime warplanes fly in the same air space too.

Russia conducts frequent air patrols over Syria, the vast majority of them over the devastated city of Aleppo, and routinely transits parts of the country the US-coalition operates in, officials said.

Russia says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18.

The Pentagon periodically chides Russia for "unsafe and unprofessional behaviour" in air operations and aggressive intercepts.

This latest incident was deemed unsafe, but not necessarily unprofessional, officials said.

Coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian, in a videoconference from Baghdad Friday, said the coalition did not assess the incident as "something that was done with nefarious intent".

"Therefore they've continued discussing that incident, and those deconfliction calls continued to be conducted on a daily basis," Dorrian said.

Syrian rebels launched a major assault Friday aimed at breaking a months-long siege of opposition-held districts of Aleppo, as regime ally Russia held off on renewed air strikes.

Fierce fighting, shelling and car bombs that rocked the northern city killed at least 18 regime forces and allied fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, but it was unable to provide a toll for the rebels.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the conflict that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and has since killed more than 300,000 people.

Control of the city, divided between the rebel-held east and the west in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, is key to securing northern Syria.

Friday's rebel assault comes more than three months into a government siege of eastern Aleppo, where more than 250,000 people live, and several weeks after the army began an operation to retake the rebel-held east.

Rebel groups "announce the start of the battle to break the siege of Aleppo", said Abu Yusef Muhajir, a military commander and spokesman for the Ahrar al-Sham faction.

The assault "will end the regime occupation of western Aleppo and break the siege on the people trapped inside", he told AFP.

Rebel groups now control "most" of the vast neighbourhood of Dahiyet al-Assad, southwest of Aleppo, with the exception of an area close to a military academy, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

Late Friday clashes were continuing in the west and southwest of Aleppo, but had decreased in intensity, according to an AFP correspondent in the rebel areas.

- Fierce clashes -

Moscow says it has not bombed Aleppo since October 18 but the Russian military said Friday it had asked President Vladimir Putin for authorisation to resume air strikes.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "considers it inappropriate at the current moment," adding the president thought it necessary to "continue the humanitarian pause" in the war-ravaged city.

Despite Russian air support, the Syrian regime has had limited success in its attempts to seize the whole of Aleppo.

The United States Friday accused the regime of using starvation as a weapon of war -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Assad and his Russian backers.

Rejecting Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a US official told AFP "the regime has rejected UN requests to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo -- using starvation as a weapon of war".

Last week, Russia implemented a three-day "humanitarian truce" intended to allow civilians and surrendering rebels to leave the east.

But few did so, and a UN plan to evacuate the wounded failed because security could not be guaranteed.

As the rebels launched their major assault, the Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including a woman and two children, had been killed, and more than 100 wounded in rebel fire on western Aleppo.

The monitor reported fierce clashes on multiple fronts on the western and southern outskirts of west Aleppo, with three suicide car bombs targeting a checkpoint in the Dahiyet al-Assad neighbourhood.

- 'Divine no-fly zone' -

The rebels also targeted government positions east of Aleppo city and in the coastal province of Latakia, including the Hmeimim military base used by Russian forces allied with the regime.

An AFP correspondent in east Aleppo said the assault had boosted morale there, with mosques broadcasting "God is greatest" from loudspeakers.

He said residents burned tyres to create smoke and provide cover against air attack.

Heavy rain put out the fires but also hampered Syrian air operations, creating what one rebel dubbed "a divine no-fly zone".

The Observatory said rebels had also fired rockets at the Nairab military airport and Aleppo international airport, both east of the city and government-controlled.

"The breaking of the siege is inevitable," said Yasser al-Yusef, a member of the political office of the Nureddine al-Zinki rebel group.

For its part, state television said "the army has foiled an attempt by terrorists to attack Aleppo city from several axes with suicide bomb attacks".

State news agency SANA said government planes were carrying out strikes south and west of Aleppo.

The European Union said late Friday its top diplomat Federica Mogherini was heading to Iran and Saudi Arabia for talks on the five-year war.

The diplomatic push comes with no end in sight to a conflict that has aligned regional powers on opposite sides, with Iran backing Assad and Saudi Arabia a key supporter of the rebels fighting to oust him.

burs/ah/mtp/tm


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