Latakia: Russian military plane shot down by Turkey

From a Latakia resident
On the morning of Tuesday November 24, 2015 at 9:40 am local time, the Turkish military shot down a Russian military plane. The plane was flying on the border of Syria and Turkey, about a one hour drive North of Latakia. The area had been prior to 2011 inhabited by a mixed community of Turkoman ethnic Syrian citizens, and Syrians of the Alowi Muslim sect. The Turkoman people are not Turkish. Turkmanistan is located in Central Asia, and that ethnic group is closely related in appearance to Chinese people. However, the Turkoman do speak a form of Turkish language, which resembles the present day Turkish language spoken in Turkey.

These Turkoman people are full Syrian citizens, and have all the same rights by law as all other Syrian citizens. The rural mountain community had no ethnic or religious strife, and the Turkoman were not abused or oppressed in any way. They had homes, farms, businesses and many were in fact Syrian government employees. However, these Turkoman decided to throw the dice, and bet on Turkey winning the war in Syria. From 2011, the Turkoman both in the rural mountainous areas North of Latakia, and those city dwellers from their community in Latakia, all picked up and left to Turkey. Perhaps the Turkish government had promised them certain benefits if they came to Turkey and worked against Syria in the war which began just after March 2011.

When the Turkish military shot the Russian plane down, the two pilots ejected safely. Their parachutes brought them down slowly in an area just north of Latakia, which is occupied by the Free Syrian Army. This rebel group is fighting a war against the Syrian civilians and the Syrian government. They are fully supported by USA, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The American media call them rebels, fighting in a civil war in Syria. However, the Syrian government and the Syrian civilians of the Latakia area call them Radical Islamic terrorists. The FSA have aligned with Al Qaeda, and on many occasions have pledged allegiance to ISIS. Even though President Obama and all others know that the FSA is a Radical Islamic terrorist group, having committed war crimes and atrocities across Syria, and massacred Christians and unarmed civilians in their homes, still USA continues to support them and defend them.

As the Russian pilots descended, the FSA, which includes Turkoman men, shot at these pilots while they were in the air. This action constitutes a war crime, by American and international rules of war. One pilot died from the bullets of the FSA. The FSA proudly advertised their war crime, by videoing the dead Russian pilot, while they screamed “Allah Akbar”, and kicked the dead body and hit him with their guns. This video is being shown around the world on YouTube as well as all news channels.

The second pilot descended safely, without being killed or captured, and he went into hiding. The Russian military in Syria sent a helicopter to rescue their pilot. As the helicopter approached the area, it was shot at by the FSA. One Russian soldier aboard was killed. The helicopter then left the area and went back to its base. The Syrian Arab Army brought in a special team of commandos, who went behind enemy lines and searched for 6 hours until they found the pilot alive and rescued him to the safety of the Russian military group at Jeblah, just south of Latakia.

Russia and France had prior to this incident concluded an agreement of cooperation in the fight against ISIS. The Russian headquarters for Syrian operations is on the coast just south of Latakia. The French aircraft carrier, “Charles DE Gaul”, had arrived and was working alongside the Russian air force in coordination and cooperation. It is unknown what this incident will do to this new alliance.

The facts have not fully immerged in this incident. The surviving pilot will have to give his report, and the satellite images will need to be studied for the story that will reveal. The Russian’s claim the Russian plane was always inside Syria, and was shot down inside Syria and the pilots ejected and landed inside Syria. At this point, everything physically can be confirmed to match with the Russian claim. It will be upon the Turkish government to produce proof which can be internationally verified that counters the Russian claim.

The Turkish government and their military have supported and defended the Radical Islamic terrorists inside Syria for almost 5 years. During this time period, the Turkish government has been under a transformation process, of going from a strictly and historically secular form of government, to a Radical Islamic leaning ideology. The Turkish citizens have complained and street protests were met by a brutal police crackdown, including deaths and injuries. The Turkish media has also complained, and many journalists have been arrested, even though Turkey claims they have democracy and freedom. President Erdogan of Turkey has long dreamed of engineering an incident in which Turkey would be in a position to ask NATO for military intervention in Syria. Several such plans have been uncovered by the Turkish media and members of the Turkish Parliament. These plans were publicly exposed in order to prevent their execution. The Turkish government assisted the FSA, enabling the massacre of Christians in Kassab, Syria in 2014, and in 2013 the Sarin gas attack in East Ghouta, near Damascus, has been proven by evidence uncovered and exposed publically by members of the Turkish Parliament, to have been the work of the Turkish government, under direct orders of Erdogan.

Just prior to the plane going down, a news crew from Russia Today (RT) was attacked by the FSA at Selma. One journalist was wounded, but will recover. Selma has been occupied by the FSA for more than 4 years. Selma sits on the Turkish border, and is due east of the area in which the plane was shot down. Selma is about a 40 minute drive North East of Latakia. The terrorists there are fully supported by Turkey and USA. The terrorists there have created an extensive system of tunnels, which allow them to be protected even from the heavy air force attacks. They are able to pass over to Turkey easily and have constant source of supplies, men and weapons. Currently, the Syrian Arab Army is in fierce battles to clear Selma and the area of all terrorists. The FSA terrorists in Selma had held a group of 100 very young children that they had kidnapped from Ballouta in August 2013. They held these very young children for 9 months underground, until they released 44 of them in May 2014, as part of a deal brokered between the Syrian government and the FSA, which included releasing terrorists and civilians in the Old City section of Homs. The fate of the remaining children kidnapped is unknown.