FARAAN: The recent military collision between American drones and Russian planes in the Syrian skies during a joint air exercise between Russian and Syrian forces has important messages.
Analysis:
Hisham Jabir, a military and strategic expert, said in a conversation with Al-Alam Network: “The friction between Russia and the United States using drones in the sky of Syria was predictable in advance.” As the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria had mentioned that the drills will be conducted with Syria from Wednesday for 6 days and said that these drills will not be ordinary land drills. Rather, it includes the Syrian and Russian air forces and electronic warfare, and the use of American drones in the skies of northern Syria must be stopped.
He added: “Russian forces entered Syria 8 years ago until the Russian plane was shot down by Turkish fire. This incident caused Russia to decide to set up an operations room at Hmeimim Air Base to coordinate flights in the Syrian airspace, and to avoid collisions, it forced the American coalition forces to coordinate so that collisions and friction do not occur. Flights at that time were limited to warplanes. The United States did not inform about the flight of drones, which worried Russia that the recent incident is a warning to the United States for the necessity of stopping the flight of drones and that coordination should include drones in addition to warplanes.”
Hassan Hassan, a researcher of strategic affairs, also pointed to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Russian and American defense ministries to prevent any confrontation, and also pointed to the words of the deputy of the Russian reconciliation center, who said that the number of violations by the United States reached 315 in June alone.
Hassan added: “The memorandum between Russia and the United States included the flight of warplanes and drones. But the Americans issued a statement and claimed that the Russian fighters took a hostile approach since a Russian plane fired several flares at the American drone.
This researcher of strategic affairs continued: “This issue cannot be considered unrelated to the ongoing and unprecedented conflict over the geography of Ukraine, because America, which heads the so-called international coalition in Syria, is also active in Ukraine.”
Mahmoud Al-Efendi, a professor at the Russian University, also said: “The operation of shooting down or sinking the American spy plane in the Black Sea, which is considered one of the most expensive spy planes in the world worth about 25 million dollars, showed that Russia firmly wants to stand up against the issue of American aggression.”
He added: “Russia wants a final solution, because it has signed many military and political agreements and understandings with America, but America has violated them. And now Russia has settled the issue in the Black Sea.”
Al-Effendi continued: “America violated Syrian airspace 315 times in June, and although Russia announced the holding of exercises in the region; America violated the privacy of this region; In the Crimean Peninsula, which is a military operation area, Russia repeatedly warned the Americans. However, American drones violate the privacy of Russian military bases and take pictures of them, these drones have advanced imaging devices; Therefore, Russia wants these aggressions to end.”
