Reporters News: Turkey Shoots Down Drone

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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 158%;">Turkish warplanes shot
down the unidentified drone in Turkish air space near Syria on Friday and a
U.S. official said Washington believed it was of Russian origin.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifztKr-jUvAZlElmoPDiD5SfOfGHkBaAaDKouJiKxGCjkowrvgnyn-y_GpviwMX-BdyGnC4_TCnh5HfuR2yRU7XdmaxbXkh-WyCvgysiOBEFl-CZOm6aJgcllt3X1llega97qa7X8A7cYX/s1600/Turkey+Shoots+Down+Drone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifztKr-jUvAZlElmoPDiD5SfOfGHkBaAaDKouJiKxGCjkowrvgnyn-y_GpviwMX-BdyGnC4_TCnh5HfuR2yRU7XdmaxbXkh-WyCvgysiOBEFl-CZOm6aJgcllt3X1llega97qa7X8A7cYX/s320/Turkey+Shoots+Down+Drone.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 158%;">ANKARA, Turkey</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;"> — Turkey
shot down an unidentified drone that flew into its airspace Friday near the
Syrian border, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country’s air
campaign backing a Syrian government offensive has killed hundreds of
militants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">A U.S. official said the
downed drone was Russian, but Moscow staunchly rejected the claim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The incident underlined
the potential dangers of clashes involving Russian, Syrian and U.S.-led
coalition planes in the increasingly crowded skies over Syria. Russian and U.S.
military officials have been working on a set of rules to prevent any problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The Turkish military
said it issued three warnings before shooting down the aircraft with its
fighter jets. It didn’t specify how it had relayed the warnings to the
operators of the drone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The drone crashed 3
kilometers (about 2 miles) inside Turkish territory, said Foreign Minister
Feridun Sinirlioglu. “We have not been able to establish who the drone belongs
to, but we are able to work on it because it fell inside Turkish territory,” he
added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Earlier this month,
Turkey had protested two incursions by Russian warplanes, which also drew
strong condemnation from Turkey’s NATO allies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The U.S., Russia and the
Syrian government all operate drones in the region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The drone was definitely
not American, and the U.S. believes it was Russian, said a U.S. defense
official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the incident and spoke
on condition of anonymity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Moscow strongly denied
ownership of the drone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“I state with absolute
responsibility that all our drones are either performing tasks or staying at
the base,” said Col.-Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, a deputy chief of the Russian
General Staff, speaking at a meeting with foreign military attaches in Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The Lebanon-based
pro-Syrian Al-Mayadeen TV quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as
saying that no Syrian or Russian warplane or drone was shot down over Turkey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Seeking to soothe
Turkey’s anger over violation of its airspace by Russian aircraft, Moscow sent
a high-level military delegation to discuss preventing such incidents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“They apologized a few times,
said it happened by accident, and that they have taken measures so that it will
not occur again,” Sinirlioglu said of Thursday’s talks in Ankara with the
Russian delegation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Since 2013, Turkey has
shot down a Syrian military jet, a helicopter and a surveillance drone that
strayed into Turkish airspace. The incidents occurred after Ankara changed its
rules of engagement following the downing of a Turkish fighter jet by Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Turkey, which patrols
the border with F-16s, has also reported numerous incidents of harassment by
Syrian fighter planes or Syria-based surface-to-air missile systems locking
radar on the aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Russia began its air
campaign Sept. 30, and Syrian troops and allied militiamen launched a
ground offensive in central Syria a week later. They have so far met stiff
resistance from rebels using U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles that have impeded
swift breakthroughs, although they have taken a few villages from rebels in the
past week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">On Friday, Syrian troops
supported by Russian air power and fighters from Iran and the Iranian-backed
Hezbollah group pressed an assault against rebels in central Syria and launched
another offensive in the northern province of Aleppo to try to recapture
territory, according to activists and the government. The multiple-front
offensives appear aimed at stretching rebel lines and keeping the insurgents
off-balance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">A Syrian military
spokesman said in a televised statement that the army launched an operation in
the Damascus rebel-held neighborhood of Jobar as well as the suburb of Harasta.
He added that troops now control of all hills that overlook Harasta and the
nearby suburb of Douma, a stronghold of Islam Army rebel group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The attack appears aimed
at securing President Bashar Assad’s seat of power that has been shelled
recently from rebel-held areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The fighting is
particularly intense in the central province of Homs, where the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said about 60 people were killed in Russian
airstrikes and fighting. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network
that follows the war, put the death toll at 57.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">The Russian military has
rejected claims of civilian casualties, saying its planes haven’t targeted
populated areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">At a meeting in
Kazakhstan of leaders of former Soviet nations, Putin said his air force has
achieved “impressive” results in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“Dozens of control
facilities and ammunition depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large number of
weapons have been destroyed,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Putin said the Russian
air campaign against the Islamic State group and other radicals in Syria will
continue “for the period of the Syrian troops’ offensive operations against
terrorists.” He would not elaborate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Between 5,000 and 7,000
people from Russia and other former Soviet countries are fighting alongside
Islamic State militants, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“We can’t allow them to
use the experience they have just gained in Syria back home,” he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Russian jets have flown
669 sorties since Sept. 30, including 394 this week, said Kartapolov, the
Russian general.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">He emphasized the urgent
need for a U.S.-Russian agreement on avoiding clashes, which is being
negotiated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“The sky over Syria is
swarming with aircraft,” Kartapolov said. “Such intense and uncoordinated use
of air power in Syria’s relatively small airspace may sooner or later lead to
an incident.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">In a bid to dispel
claims by the U.S. and its allies that Moscow is focused on moderate rebels
instead of its declared targets of Islamic State militants, Kartapolov said the
Russian Defense Ministry would send a detailed map showing positions of the IS
and Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate targeted by the Russian aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“Our aircraft have been
used on targets outside of populated areas,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Kartapolov also
criticized the U.S.-led coalition for striking a power plant near Aleppo,
leaving the city without electricity and paralyzing its water supply and sewage
system, something he said could only increase the flow of refugees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">In a separate interview
with the daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kartapolov shrugged off the U.S.
claim that four of 26 cruise missiles launched at targets in Syria by the
Russian navy from the Caspian Sea had crashed in Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">“The Pentagon may say
whatever it wants,” he said. “All our missiles reached their targets.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Kartapolov said the
Russian jets haven’t yet faced any surface-to-air missiles and warned that
their use by rebels would signal a foreign involvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Following a similar
statement by Putin, the general ruled out Russian military involvement in
ground action in Syria. He said Russian air and land assets in Syria will be
pulled together with its Soviet-era Tartus navy facility in one base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 158%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 158%;">Kartapolov wouldn’t
offer any further details, and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, refused to
comment on the issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 158%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Russian warships in the
Mediterranean helped provide cover for its air base in the coastal province of
Latakia and could take part in attacks on targets in Syria, Kartapolov said.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 158%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sourse: </span><a href="http://usdailynews.com/">Usdailynews.com</a></span></div>
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Turkey Shoots Down Drone Near syria

Turkish warplanes shot down the unidentified drone in Turkish air space near Syria on Friday and a U.S. official said Washington believe...