One day after the conclusion of Vienna Syria talks, a Russian airliner crashed in Sinai. Is it just a coincidence? Could be or couldn’t be. Saudi Arabia would like to see Syria ruled by their “moderate fighters or opposition” and everybody out. But, unfortunately, this is not the Russian (and Egyptian) point of view. In fact, yesterday the Saudi FM said that: Russia and Iran must agree to a date and means for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to quit the country, and agree to withdraw all foreign forces from Syria. These are the two basic points without which there can be no solution,” he said. Assad and Iran accuse Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies of being behind terrorism in Syria through their backing of rebel groups (Not only Assad and Iran, it’s just a fact). Those countries say they only arm and finance secular (!) or moderate Islamist rebel groups (!!). Few weeks ago, in New York, the same “foreign minister” said that: There is no future for Assad in Syria. “There are two options for a settlement in Syria. One option is a political process where there would be a transitional council. The other option is a military option, which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power.” He noted that a military option would be a lengthier and more destructive process, but the “choice is entirely that of Bashar al-Assad.” The Saudi foreign minister also admitted that the kingdom and other countries are already backing “moderate rebels” fighting the Damascus government but refrained from commenting on the specifics of a military option. “Whatever we may or may not do we’re not talking about,” he said.
The conclusion. Saudi Arabia, terrorists’ supporter, is ready to do anything to achieve its goals in Syria. Nothing will stop us: this is what we understand from his statements. Nothing will stop us even Russia. We are even able to crash their plans simply with the dirty hands of a technical person working in one of these airports who will accept to become a millionaire with the bloody petrodollars. Then, about which freedom are they talking for Syria, those Gulf castrated countries without parliaments? The crash. Investigators have retrieved black boxes; Cairo agrees to Russian participation in inquiry; Lufthansa and Air France-Klm will avoid flying over Sinai; contradictory statements on pilot’s Sos. The wife of the co-pilot of the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt says her husband had complained about the plane’s condition, according to a Russian Tv channel. State-controlled Ntv ran an interview Saturday with Natalya Trukhacheva, identified as the wife of co-pilot Sergei Trukachev. She said that a daughter “called him up before he flew out. He complained before the flight that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired.” An Egyptian official had previously said that before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers the pilot had radioed and said the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try and land at the nearest airport. A Russian passenger airliner crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous part Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula 23 minutes after taking off from a popular Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board, including 25 children.The cause of the crash was not known, but two major European airlines announced they would stop flying over the area for safety reasons after a local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group claimed it “brought down” the aircraft. Almost everyone on board the Airbus-A321-200 operated by the Moscow-based Metrojet airline was Russian; Ukraine said four of its citizens were passengers.
The German carrier Lufthansa said it would avoid flying over Sinai “as long as the cause for today’s crash has not been clarified”. On Saturday evening, Air France said it was following suit. British
Airways and easyJet said their routes were regularly reviewed, but that they had no plans to alter their routes to and from Sharm el-Sheikh. A civil aviation ministry statement said the plane’s wreckage was found in the Hassana area some 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the city of el-Arish, in the general area of northern Sinai where Egyptian security forces have for years battled local Islamic militants who in recent months claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group. One Egyptian official, Ayman al-Muqadem of the government’s Aviation Incidents Committee, said that before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, the pilot had radioed and said the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try and land at the nearest airport. It was impossible to independently confirm whether technical problems were to blame, and no other Egyptian official repeated the claim on Saturday. In a statement on its website, Metrojet said the A321-200 aircraft was in good shape and that the pilot was experienced. It identified the captain as Valery Nemov and said he had 12,000 hours of flying experience, including 3,860 in A321s. Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said officials from Moscow and Cairo were in touch over the incident. The Egyptian officials, he said, had not confirmed the claim by Islamic State militants who said they “brought down a Russian plane over Sinai state with more than 220 Russian crusaders on board.” The militant group did not provide any evidence to back up its claim. “Based on our contacts with the Egyptian side, the information that the airplane was shot down must not be considered reliable,” Sokolov said, according to a report by the Interfax news agency. Russia’s top Investigative Committee has launched a case against airline Kogalymavia under an article regulating “violation of rules of flights and preparations for them” after a Kogalymavia airliner crashed in Egypt on Saturday, Russian news agencies said, citing the committee’s spokesman.
Paul Attallah
