Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation : More in detail


23.12.2015 (19:00)

Russian Defence Ministry commented on briefing of Amnesty International and summed up results of operation carried out by the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria on December 18-23

In the course of five days, on December 18-23, aircraft of the Aerospace Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic have performed 302 combat sorties engaging 1093 objects in the Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Homs and Deir ez-Zor provinces.

In Homs province, a Su-24 bomber made a strike on a concentration of military hardware of the ISIS terrorists. According to objective monitoring data, 6 off-road vehicles with large-caliber machine guns and 3 militants’ trucks were destroyed.

In Aleppo province, a Su-34 bomber made a strike on a command centre of one of the Ahrar ash-Sham illegal armed groups uncovered by UAVs. Direct hit on the building occupied by terrorists completely destroyed the facility.

The Russian aviation continues making strikes on militants’ illegal oil production facilities.

Near Deir ez-Zor, Su-34 bombers eliminated 2 oil storage facilities and 3 oil extraction installations as well as dozens oil trucks waiting for being loaded just in 24 hours.

Pay attention to the detonation wave of the tankers, which had been filled with not just oil but its refueled products.

In Idlib province, a Su-34 bomber eliminated a training camp belonging to illegal armed groups. There were experienced instructors, who had arrived from neighbouring countries of Syria.

Information concerning the camp, where the significant part of terrorists arriving from Turkey is composed of citizens from CIS states, was received from representatives of the patriotic Syrian opposition about a week ago. This data has been thoroughly checked through all available channels including the Information centre in Baghdad.

The data with coordinates of the terrorists’ camp was confirmed at once by several sources.

As soon as a large number of militants arrived at the camp, a strike was made on it destroying the whole infrastructure with terrorists.

It is to be paid attention that just in several hours the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the Russian Defence Ministry for alleged killing of exactly 600 civilians, exactly 150 of them – are allegedly children.

Only the Turkish leadership knows where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had got these round numbers without submitting even smallest evidence.

Another declaration published in the Turkish media quoting the spokesman of the Turkish Government Numan Kurtulmus is not less significant.

According to him, only 391 of 4198 operations of the Russian air group in Syria were aimed against ISIS targets.

Attention should be paid to the accuracy in the claimed number of sorties of the Russian aircraft against targets in the Syrian Arab Republic.

This fact shows that all the data transmitted to the American party has been brought to notice of the Turkish General Staff by the US Air Force Command.

So, on November 24, when the Turkish fighter traitorously attacked with a missile the Russian Su-24 bomber, the Turkish General Staff was well-informed about the time and the area of task performance of the pair of Russian bombers.

These words of Numan Kurtulmus can be treated as official confirmation by Turkey of the fact that the operation on shooting down the Russian aircraft in the Syrian sky and killing of the Russian servicemen had been planned beforehand.

The Russian Defence Ministry has repeatedly attracted attention to the fact that all stovepiping, which contains accusations addressed to the Russian aircraft concerning allegedly killing many Syrian civilians by airstrikes or with some prohibited munitions (from cluster to vacuum ones) do not appear for nothing.

When it had happened for the first time, it could be treated as a strange coincidence.

However, it has happened for the third time. It is to be stressed that the same media agencies have spread fake information, and all coincidences turned into regularity. 

It is to be reminded that the first blaming wave had appeared right after destruction of thermal power station by the US Air Force aircraft in Aleppo, which left the whole districts without electricity.

The second wave of accusation went on after tragic bombardment of the hospital of the Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz (Afghanistan) carried out by the US Air Force on October 3, which killed 42 people.

By the way, the video with the strike and its consequences appeared in common access at once. The Russian Defence Ministry was not blamed for this tragedy just because there are no Russian troops in Afghanistan.

That is why all the lies are aimed to accuse Russia of bombing Syrian hospitals.

The Russian Defence Ministry refuted this fakes presenting the world public comprehensive photo and video evidence.

This wave of charges appeared right after the strike performed by aircraft of the US Air Force on Iraqi military servicemen near Fallujah having injured and killed more than 50 people.

Absence of any evidences and referring to impersonal eyewitnesses, which are called by the Western Media as “observers for human rights”, are the essential attribute of all accusations.

After getting acquainted with such publications and reports, there is always a question: Do militants of the ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremist armed groups active in Syria know how many human rights organizations the hated by them West are working at the under-controlled territories and monitors their activity daily.

Therefore, it is impossible to find any reports concerning violating rights of Syrian people by terrorists but also brutalities in the under-controlled territories. As it can be seen, according to the western human rights organizations, it is all right.

The whole plan is clear and it is easy to check by using archives of the Internet or printed publications. 

Just this night, briefing of the Amnesty International (non-governmental organization) tells about casualties among civilians resulted from Russian airstrike.

It is to be emphasized that in the preface of the briefing the agency Amnesty International tells that the facts have been examined distantly receiving information from telephone interrogations of the local human rights activities.

There have not been published anything specific or new. There are the same clichés and fakes, repeatedly refuted before.

Such phrases as “supposedly Russian airstrikes”, “possible violations of international law” etc. are used throughout the briefing.

In the other words, there only admissions without any evidence.

It is very interesting that these reservations varnished in many western media where the briefing of the Amnesty International had been published.

The wide public everything is given as facts.

The method is not new and at the same time very effective one. But it is absolutely deceitful.

Amnesty International states with confidence that there had not any militants in the areas where the “supposed Russian airstrikes” had been made.

But they cannot know it and check it. It is known that Syrian jihadists act within very mobile units using famous pick-ups TOYOTA with large-caliber weaponry on them.

To the notice of the authors of the briefing, even according to the classification of the US Army every such car is a tactical unit and a legal military target.

By the way, some of those cars, as it had been proved before, have arrived in Syria from the territory of the USA.

Moreover, it is known that along with the Russian aviation, the airstrikes on different targets are being conducted by the aviation of the coalition led by the USA, by the Syrian Air Force and apart all – the Turkish aviation.

The level of coordination of those efforts despite the appeals of the Russian party remain very low, what is more frequent – it is at the zero level.

Why than Amnesty International speaks about the Russian actions? Such accusations of Russia are at least proofless.

There is another example.

The briefing tells about attacks on hospitals and medical institutions.

Amnesty International refers to only one supposed “fact” of a hit of some missiles several meters from Sarmin hospital in Idlib.

It is also mentioned that eyewitnesses did not see or hear the aircraft.

It is not the fact that there was any airstrike at all in that area. But they put it simply: aircraft was not seen or heard but, supposedly, that was a Russian warplane.

By the way, two months ago, in the end of October, this topic was raised, but by another organization of human rights. The Russian Defence Ministry gave a detailed refutation.

To the essence.

In the end of October, leading western media quoting the “Syrian-American Medical Society” registered in the USA which is registered in the USA, accused the Russian Ministry of Defence of supposed bombing of hospitals by the Russian aircraft in the inhabited areas of Alays, al-Hader, Khan Tuman, Al Zerba, Sarmin, Latamna.

Traditionally it was done without any factual basis.

As a pseudo-evidence, a video showing the demolition of a hospital in Sarmin settlement (Idlib province) was demonstrated.

Certain western media referring to anonymous sources claimed that in the course of the strikes of the Russian aircraft, 12 people were supposedly killed and about 28 were injured in that medical institution.

Russian Defence MInistry have checked this information. It turns out that there is a hospital only in Sarmin. In Alays, Al-Hader, Khan Tuman, Al Zerba, and Latamna there are no hospitals and medical personnel.

It came that the hospital was only in Sarmin.

There are no hospitals and medical personnel in settlements al-Ais, al-Khader, Khan Tuman, al-Zirba and Latamna

There is nothing to add.

It is to be reminded that since the first day of the operation in Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry holds regular briefings where results of airstrikes of the Russian aviation against terrorists and only terrorists are shown with unprecedented transparency.

All the proofless declarations of anonymous sources, which like to widely use Reuters agency are not trustworthy.

Another one fancy: the briefing of the Amnesty International tells that after the strike of the Turkish Air Force on the Russian aircraft, the Russian Defence Ministry reduced the volume of published data concerning the activities of the Russian aviation in Syria.

Right on the contrary: the Russian Defence Ministry has increased the volume of published information and has started inviting more foreign journalists at the Hmeymim airbase as well as at the Russian ships, which are performing combat duty in the water zone of Syria.

Aerial photographs of “supposed” areas of airstrikes of “supposed Russian aviation” arouse much interest. What is to be said?

Well done Amnesty International. You have a space grouping.

Russian Defence Ministry addressed to the Amnesty International with a suggestion to reveal who and when provided them with this so-called data or it will be done by the Ministry itself.

Concerning the suppositions on cluster bombs.

Russian aviation does not use them.                 

There are dozens of foreign journalists here who had been at the Hmeymim airbase and filmed the preparations for combat sorties, take-offs and landing for nearly 24 hours a day. No one even asked about this type of munitions.

That is because there are no such munitions at the Russian air base in Syria.

But there is a question to the Amnesty International:

Why were you silent and did not want to notice irrefutable evidence of usage of cluster bombs by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against cities in the east of Ukraine?

Were you busy at that moment?

Did you have a headache all these months?

Or was there anybody who recommended you not to notice that?

The Syrian conflict is running for already five years.

The number of victims has reached 300 000 people.

It is strange that the Amnesty International ignoring the question: who and what military crimes had committed on the territory of Syria before the Russian air group appeared there.

The selectivity of briefings of the Amnesty International attracts attention.

There are still no detailed reports on the activities of the “coalition” of the Saudis on the territory of Yemen and moreover the briefing on the crimes of terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

According to the Russian Defence Ministry this energy is better to be aimed at covering these facts.

There is nothing to be added.

Addressing to representatives of respectful mass media it is to be said – do not put at risk your reputation by publishing fakes provided by anonymous sources.

The goal of all these manipulations – to stain others distrcting the attention of the world public from tragedies, which caused deaths and suffering of civilians in Aleppo, Kunduz, Falluji and other cities.

If anybody thinks that the Russian party does not understand this, that is wrong.

Moreover, the Russian Defence Ministry has enough information on the results of actions of so-called anti-ISIS coalition in Syria. These actions are not always correspond to the claimed goal – fighting against the ISIS.

The Russian Defence Ministry is convinced that fighting against terrorism does not involve efforts aimed to discredit partners but involves joint practical actions directed against plague of XXI century – international terrorism. 

Department for Media Affairs and Information
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