ТУРЦИЯ ИГИЛ И РОССИЯ

Russian airstrikes hit Turkish convoy delivering weapons to ISIS in Syria

By Jim Kouri -- Bio and Archives, November 28, 2015

The incident involving the shooting down of a Russian warplane by the Turkish military may have had to do with Turkey’s cooperation with the radical Islamic fighters in Syria and Russia’s decision to help the Arab dictator Bashar al-Assad fight both the Islamists and the secular rebel fighters attempting to over-throw Assad.

In the aftermath of the Turkish military shooting down a Russian air force plane, the killing of its pilot, and the attack on a Russian rescue helicopter, the violence between those two nations is becoming more intensified, according to an American expert on radical Islam, Walter Anasara, a former police counterterrorism unit leader.

On Thanksgiving Day, Russian airstrikes blasted trucks which were allegedly transporting weapons and equipment from NATO member Turkey to the Muslim terrorists fighting in the war-torn city of Aleppo, Syria. News media in the Middle East indicate that this is not the first time such a scenario occurred, with Turkish intelligence officer assisting ISIS and Al Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syrian offshoot.

“The shooting down of a Russian aircraft near the Syrian border was in line with Ankara’s struggle to establish itself as a dominant” power,” retired US Army Major General Paul Vallely was quoted as saying by Iran’s Press TV on Thursday.

Gen. Vallely warned the United States and other NATO member nations that Turkey must be removed from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization because “it poses a big and important issue in many ways for other members.”

Besides the Turkish convoy attack, the Syrian government air force and Russian warplanes also intensified their attacks on positions held by terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) throughout Aleppo province.

“The Russian and Syrian airstrikes hit the Takfiri [Sunni] militants’ positions in the Southern countryside of Aleppo. However, there were no immediate reports of… casualties among the terrorists,” Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, media reports suggested that the President Assad’s Syrian Army and its Iranian military allies have made great strides in combating ISIS jihadists in the eastern section of Aleppo and managed to force ISIS fighters to retreat from the strategic Humaymah hilltop.

The media reports also claimed that the Syrian army, the country’s National Defense Forces (NDF) and Lebanese-based Hezbollah fighters—who are funded by and allied with Shiite Iran —continued their joint anti-terrorism operation during fierce clashes with the Takfiri terrorists. Takfiri is an Arabic term for a Sunni Muslim who accuses another Muslim from a different sect of apostasy. For example, Sunni Muslims believe Shiite Muslims are heretics.

A Turkish prosecutor asked a criminal court judge to jail the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper while the editor awaits his trial for treason. The newspaper had published photographs of military weapons that were allegedly transported to Syria by agents of Turkey’s intelligence service.

In addition to editor-in-chief Can Dündar, the prosecutors are seeking the same pre-trial restrictions for Cumhuriyet’s correspondent in the city of Ankara. The correspondent, Erdem Gül, according to Fars News Agency, and his boss arrived at an Istanbul court on Thursday, saying that they have come “to defend journalism.”

The articles published on Cumhuriyet’s front page in May 2015, accused officers from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) of smuggling weapons—hidden in convoys of trucks—into Syria and that the smugglers were caught twice by President Bashar al-Assad’s secret police. The trucks were allegedly pulled over and searched by police officers, which was photographed and videotaped by person or persons unknown and turned over to Cumhuriyet.

According to the news story, the trucks were loaded with six steel containers containing 1,000 artillery shells, 50,000 machine gun rounds, 30,000 heavy machine gun rounds and 1,000 mortar shells. The arms were reportedly delivered to extremist groups fighting against the Syrian government of President Assad, whom the Turkish government would like to see ousted from power.

The Turkish government denied the allegations and labeled the entire news story as being an act of “treasonous espionage.”  During President Barack Obama’s visit to Turkey on November 16, he either chose to ignore the intelligence regarding the alleged activities by the Turkish government or he continues to be unaware of what is occurring on the world stage.

Jim Kouri -- Bio and Archives

Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He’s formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter’s University and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.

In addition, he’s a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (kgab.com) and editor of Conservative Base Magazine (conservativebase.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

He holds a bachelor of science in Criminal Justice from Southwest University and SCI Technical School in New York City and completed training at the NYC Police Academy, FBI Continuing Education Program, and the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) of the American Society for Industrial Security.

Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.

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