Missing Russian Metrojet Airliner Crashed in Sinai, Confirmed Egypt

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Missing Russian Metrojet Airliner Crashed in Sinai, Confirmed Egypt.



CAIRO:  Egyptian military has spotted the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane that crashed today in the Sinai Peninsula with 224 people on board, the government said.



"Military planes have discovered the wreckage of the plane... in a mountainous area, and 45 ambulances have been directed to the site to evacuate dead and wounded," a cabinet statement said.



A "Russian civilian plane... crashed in the central Sinai," a statement from the office of Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said.



News agency Reuters quoted a security officer at the crash site saying that the aircraft was completely destroyed.



The Metrojet (formerly Kolavia Airlines) flight had 217 passengers and seven crew members on board. A senior aviation official said it was a charter flight operated by a Russian company.





The Kolavia/Metrojet aircraft lost contact with air traffic control over Sinai in Egypt



According to reports, Flight 7K9268 flying to Russia from Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt went off radar 23 minutes after taking off.



Sergei Lzvolsky, an official with the Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia told Interfax news agency that the plane had departed Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh at 5:51 am local time (03:51 GMT).



He said the aircraft did not make contact as expected with air traffic controllers in Cyprus.



Earlier, there was confusion on the fate of the plane, while some reports said it had crashed in Sinai, others said the aircraft had made contact with air traffic control.



Most passengers on the flight are believed to be Russian tourists.

Syria War- 57 Killed in Missile Attack in a Douma Damascus Market

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Syria War-  57 Killed in Missile Attack in a Douma- Damascus Market

BEIRUT:  At least 57 people were killed and dozens wounded when Syrian government forces fired missiles into a marketplace in a town near Damascus, a conflict monitor said on Friday.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war through a network of sources on the ground, said government forces fired 12 missiles at Douma, 10 miles (15 km) northeast of Damascus. It earlier said 47 had been killed.



It also said that at least 20 people were killed in the northern city of Aleppo when warplanes struck several parts of the northern city of Aleppo. It was not immediately clear which country carried out the attacks.



Douma has suffered intense bombardment in recent months in a wave of strikes the Syrian army has said targets insurgents that have launched attacks on government-held areas.



Syrian Civil Defence, a local humanitarian rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, posted a picture on its Facebook page of about a dozen bloodied bodies laid on the ground on plastic sheeting and said more than 45 had died in the attack, which it said used guided missiles.



"Utterly heinous that while world leaders meet for peace in Vienna, attack(s) against civilians continue in Syria," the group said on Twitter.



It linked to a video showing people tending to survivors in a chaotic scene of blackened rubble and fire. Footage showed bodies on the ground of the market place, where stalls had been blown to pieces. Reuters was unable to independently verify the events shown.



Many of Douma's residents have fled the four-year conflict, moving to nearby rural areas. Medics say they have struggled to cope with large numbers of wounded in the intensified strikes.



Syria's civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes. International diplomats were meeting on Friday at a peace conference in Vienna, the first to be attended by President Bashar al-Assad's main ally Iran.

U.S. Special Forces Reaching Syria

The White House announced that U.S. Special Forces will be sent to help with operations in Syria Friday morning. Almost at the same time, Vladimir Putin said Russia is making progress in their bombing campaign against ISIS.



A reluctant President Obama has authorized the first sustained deployment of U.S. Special Forces to Syria, officials said Friday, which goes against his campaign promises not to put boots on the ground. According to the AFP, the first deployment to Syria would be composed of “fewer than 50” Special Operation forces to the north of the war-torn country. Administration officials described the operation as an intensified effort to combat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).





“They will help coordinate local ground forces and coalition efforts to counter ISIL,” said a senior administration official.



U.S. Special Forces deployed to aid Kurdish forces battling ISIS

U.S. Special Forces deployed to aid Kurdish forces battling ISIS [Photo by Stringer/Getty Images]

In a related report by the Inquisitr, earlier this month, U.S. Special Forces working alongside Kurdish forces raided an ISIS prison in Iraq in what was described as a daring pre-dawn operation and extracted 70 prisoners. However, they lost Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, who was killed during the operation.



The first contingent of U.S. Special Forces will “advise and assist” Kurdish guerrillas and other groups fighting the ruthless Islamic State, the Telegraph reports. They will work with the Syrian Arab Coalition along the Syrian border, which will include helping to coordinate air strikes.



It is not expected these troops will engage in fighting on the frontlines but will instead provide “training, assistance, and advice” in a similar way to what the U.S. is doing in Iraq. In following Obama’s previous stance on putting boots on the ground, a U.S. official said there is “no intention of engaging in long-term, large-scale combat operations” in Syria.



Conveniently, Russian President Vladimir Putin had his own announcement about his country’s operations against ISIS in Syria. According to Sputnik News, since the campaign against ISIS in Syria started on September 30, Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 1,391 sorties and destroyed a total of 1,623 terrorist targets, the Russian General Staff said Friday.



Russian warplanes destroyed 249 Islamic State command posts, 51 training camps, and 131 depots, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian General Staff Main Operations Directorate, claimed Friday.



“It is too early to speak about complete victory over terrorists in Syria. Despite heavy losses and mass desertion, militants continue to resist the government troops. Importantly, the Syrian armed forces have promptly repelled all of their counterattacks.”



On Friday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest was questioned during the White House briefing and made remarks on the number of U.S. Special Forces deployed.



“I wouldn’t underestimate U.S. Special Forces and the President expects they will have an effect in the campaign of building the capacity of the Iraqi forces on the ground.



“Syria is different because there is no central govt to partner with. The U.S. is enhancing the capacity of modern opposition forces in Syria and carrying out military airstrikes in support of those forces to make progress against ISIL.”



Earlier on Friday, the Associated Press reported a senior Russian diplomat has warned the U.S. against sending Special Forces to Syria. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday, according to Russian news agencies, that Moscow considers the use of U.S. forces without coordination with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government unacceptable.



U.S. Special Forces to Syria while Vladimir Putin claims progress against ISIS

U.S. Special Forces to Syria while Vladimir Putin claims progress against ISIS [Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

Despite the escalation of Russian involvement in Syria, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told CNN Thursday in an exclusive interview that he believes Vladimir Putin is “winging this” and described the Russian leader as “very impulsive and opportunistic.”



“I personally question whether he has some long-term strategy or whether he is being very opportunistic on a day-to-day basis and I think his intervention into Syria is another manifestation of that.



“What his long-term plan is, I’m not sure he has one. I think he is kind of winging this day-to-day.”



Earnest defended the president’s decision to send U.S. Special Forces when questioned whether Obama had broken his promise not to put boots on the ground, insisting these troops will not be in the frontlines. One of the goals of this mission is to aid Iraqi in the push to reclaim Ramadi, which has fallen into ISIS’ hands.