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Australia Suspends Syrian Airstrikes Over Russia, U.S. Tensions

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Australia Suspends Syria Air Strikes

A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet at an air show. Australia’s decision to back out of the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria follows Russia’s warning that it would track American and coalition aircraft in the country as targets. PHOTO: IAN HITCHCOCK/GETTY IMAGES

By Ben Kesling

BAGHDAD—Australia has suspended air operations in Syria amid escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow after Russia threatened to track American and coalition aircraft in the war-torn country as targets.

“As a precautionary measure, Australian Defense Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” a statement from the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The American ally’s decision to back out of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria comes hours after the U.S. shifted some of its own flight patterns in the country to minimize risks, following Russia’s warning on Monday that it would use air defense systems or Russian pilots to track flights west of the Euphrates.

The current tensions between the U.S. and Russia, which back opposite sides in the Syrian conflict but are also fighting Islamic State in the country, began Sunday when an American jet fighter shot down a Syrian regime warplane after it targeted U.S.-backed Syrian fighters who were leading the assault on Islamic State’s de facto capital, Raqqa.

Russia, allied with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, responded to the U.S. strike with threats to cut official lines of communication that are meant to prevent midair mishaps and to treat U.S.-led coalition planes as “targets.” It, however, stopped short of threatening to shoot them down, giving some U.S. officials hope that the situation won’t worsen.

“ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course,” Australia’s defense ministry said in the statement. It will continue its mission in neighboring Iraq, the statement added.

The U.S.-led coalition has stepped up its operations to push Islamic State out of its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. Australia has deployed six warplanes, as well as an aerial tanker and an airstrike control aircraft, to the region to support the fight against the extremist group.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/australia-suspends-syria-air-strikes-over-russia-u-s-tensions-1497956784?mod=e2tw

Egyptian airstrikes on ISIS targets in Libya after 21 Copts killed by terrorists

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B98YHNtIgAAOpoQ.jpg_largeThe Egyptian Air Force has struck Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) positions in Libya, following the execution of 21 Christian Egyptians by the terrorist group. On Sunday, a video emerged, allegedly showing the mass killing carried out by the IS.

 

Air strikes against Isis are not working, say Syrian Kurds

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Isis fighters have pushed to the edge of Kobani, undeterred by western strikes, says city official

Turkish soldiers near KobaniTurkish soldiers on the border with Syria, with Kobani visible beyond as smoke from a shell rises. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP report the Gurdian

Isis fighters have pushed to within little more than a mile of the centre of the city of Kobani, undeterred by western air strikes which are proving ineffective, a leading Kurdish official in the city has said.

Fighting between the Islamist militants and Syrian Kurds continued unabated despite another volley of coalition air strikes in and around the Kobani enclave, Idris Nassan, Kobani’s “foreign affairs minister”, told the Guardian.

“There are fierce clashes between Isis and YPG [People’s Defence Corps] fighters, at the moment mainly to the south-east of the city. Isis now stands at two kilometres from the city centre,” Nassan told the Guardian by phone. “I can hear the bombs and shells here.”

According to Nassan, the situation was “under control for now”, but he underlined that air strikes had not deterred a further Isis advance.

“Air strikes alone are really not enough to defeat Isis in Kobani,” he stressed. “They are besieging the city on three sides, and fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every Isis fighter on the ground.”

He added that Isis had adapted their tactics to military strikes from the air. “Each time a jet approaches they leave their open positions, they scatter and hide. What we really need is ground support. We need heavy weapons and ammunition in order to fend them off and defeat them.”

Nassan said there were no evacuation plans for the moment: “Many people have left Kobani now. But there are still thousands of civilians inside the city.”

On Sunday, several MPs and representatives of Kurdish groups in Turkey arrived at the border to show solidarity with Syrian Kurds and to form a “human chain” stretching along villages bordering Kobani.

In the meantime, Saleh Muslim, co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD), went to Ankara this weekend to hold meetings with Turkish security officials to discuss possible Turkish assistance in defending Kobani against Isis.

Turkish media reported that security officials in Ankara urged Muslim to convince the YPG, the armed wing of the PYD that is currently battling Isis in Kobani, to join the ranks of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and to “take an open stance against the Syrian regime” of Bashar al-Assad.

“We are calling on the international community to help us defend Kobani,” said Nassan. “Mr Muslim’s trip to Ankara is part of that call. Since Turkey agreed to join the international coalition to fight Isis, we ask them to help us, too.”

He said the exact outcome of the meetings remained unclear, but hinted that Muslim had asked Ankara to allow for the PYD, the Syrian Kurdish affiliate of the better-known Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), to receive arms from outside of Syria.

“If Isis takes Kobani, they will be right on the border with Turkey. This concerns not only us, but Turkey, too.”