Page 3 - WEB 17 OCT,2015
P. 3
WORLD NEWS 9
Saturday 17 October 2015
Turkish jets down drone at its border with Syria Russian strikes in
Syria killed scores
S. FRASER the drone belongs to, but and spoke on condition of Russian warplane or drone of militants: Putin
V. ISACHENKOV we are able to work on it anonymity. was shot down over Turkey.
Associated Press because it fell inside Turkish Moscow strongly denied Seeking to soothe Tur- N. VASILYEVA
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — key’s anger over violation V. ISACHENKOV
Turkey shot down an un- Turkish foreign minister Feridun Sinirlioglu attends a press of its airspace by Russian Associated Press
identified drone that flew conference in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Oct. 16, 2015. Turkish jets aircraft, Moscow sent a MOSCOW (AP) — Russian
into its airspace Friday near on Friday shot down an unidentified drone that had violated high-level military delega- airstrikes in Syria have killed
the Syrian border, while Turkey’s airspace at the border with Syria, the military said. tion to discuss prevent- hundreds of militants, Pres-
Russian President Vladimir ing such incidents. “They ident Vladimir Putin said
Putin said his country’s air (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) apologized a few times, Friday as he called for a
campaign backing a Syr- said it happened by acci- shared military effort of ex-
ian government offensive territory,” he added. ownership of the drone. dent, and that they have Soviet nations to prevent
has killed hundreds of mili- Earlier this month, Turkey “I state with absolute re- taken measures so that possible militant incursions
tants. A U.S. official said the had protested two incur- sponsibility that all our it will not occur again,” to Syria from Afghanistan.
downed drone was Rus- sions by Russian warplanes, drones are either perform- Sinirlioglu said of Thurs- Putin told a meeting of
sian, but Moscow staunch- which also drew strong ing tasks or staying at the day’s talks in Ankara with leaders of ex-Soviet na-
ly rejected the claim. condemnation from Tur- base,” said Col.-Gen. An- the Russian delegation. tions in Kazakhstan that
The incident underlined key’s NATO allies. drei Kartapolov, a deputy Since 2013, Turkey has shot the Russian military has
the potential dangers of The U.S., Russia and the Syr- chief of the Russian Gen- down a Syrian military jet, achieved “impressive” re-
clashes involving Russian, ian government all oper- eral Staff, speaking at a a helicopter and a surveil- sults during the air cam-
Syrian and U.S.-led coali- ate drones in the region. meeting with foreign mili- lance drone that strayed paign in Syria that began
tion planes in the increas- The drone was definitely tary attaches in Moscow. into Turkish airspace. The on Sept. 30.
ingly crowded skies over not American, and the U.S. The Lebanon-based pro- incidents occurred after “Dozens of control facili-
Syria. Russian and U.S. mili- believes it was Russian, said Syrian Al-Mayadeen TV Ankara changed its rules ties and ammunition de-
tary officials have been a U.S. defense official, who quoted an unidentified of engagement following pots, hundreds of terrorists
working on a set of rules to was not authorized to dis- Syrian military official as the downing of a Turkish and a large number of
prevent any problems. cuss details of the incident saying that no Syrian or fighter jet by Syria. Turkey, weapons have been de-
The Turkish military said it is- which patrols the border stroyed,” he said.
sued three warnings before with F-16s, has also report- Putin reaffirmed that the
shooting down the aircraft ed numerous incidents of Russian bombing blitz
with its fighter jets. It didn’t harassment by Syrian fight- against the Islamic State
specify how it had relayed er planes or Syria-based group and other radicals
the warnings to the opera- surface-to-air missile sys- in Syria will continue “for
tors of the drone. tems locking radar on the the period of the Syrian
The drone crashed 3 kilo- aircraft. Russia began its troops’ offensive opera-
meters (about 2 miles) in- air campaign Sept. 30, tions against terrorists,” but
side Turkish territory, said and Syrian troops and al- wouldn’t elaborate.
Foreign Minister Feridun lied militiamen launched a He said between 5,000
Sinirlioglu. “We have not ground offensive in central and 7,000 people from
been able to establish who Syria a week later.q Russia and other ex-Soviet
nations are fighting along-
Iraqi forces retake oil refinery from IS militants side Islamic State militants.
“We can’t allow them to
S. SALAHEDDIN ing refinery, Iraq’s largest territories it controls in Syria up mainly of Shiite militias. use the experience they
Associated Press which has been idle since and Iraq, and has used The leader of the Iranian- have just gained in Syria
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi gov- June last year. There was oil smuggling to finance backed paramilitary group back home,” he said.
ernment troops backed by also no word on the fate of much of its operations. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Sheik Qais Russian jets have flown
Shiite militia fighters have the nearby town of Beiji. The military operation — al-Khazali, was filmed in a more than 600 combat
driven out Islamic State Beiji, about 250 kilometers dubbed Labeik ya Ra- military uniform accompa- sorties since the start of the
group militants from a key (155 miles) north of Bagh- sool Allah, or “At your nying troops inside the re- air campaign, said Col.-
oil refinery north of Bagh- dad, fell to IS during its blitz command, messenger of finery in a video released Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of
dad in a wide-scale military across northern Iraq a year God,”— was launched on by the group’s TV chan- the Russian military’s Gen-
operation, authorities said ago, but the refinery facility Monday as the second nel, al-Ahad. The footage eral Staff.
Friday. The Joint Military remained contested. The phase of a large-scale showed the troops as walk- He shrugged off the U.S.
Command said in a state- town is strategically signifi- operation to drive Islamic ing through the wreckage claim that four of the 26
ment the forces retook Beiji cant as it lies on the road State militants out of Sala- of the refinery complex as cruise missiles launched at
refinery and nearby Siniya to IS-held Mosul, Iraq’s sec- huddin province in cen- black smoke billowed from targets in Syria by Russian
town, but did not provide ond largest city. tral Iraq. The government different areas. The troops navy ships from the south-
additional details on the The IS group has declared troops were backed by waved Iraqi and Shiite mili- ern part of the Caspian
operation at the sprawl- an Islamic caliphate in the paramilitary forces, made tia flags.q Sea had crashed on Ira-
nian territory.q
