Foreign Affairs
Russia’s ‘Terminator’ Shot Down In Syria, Gas Dropped On Civilians In Retaliation
No featured image available
A Russian assault helicopter nicknamed the”Terminator” was shot down Monday by Syrian rebels, near a town where civilians reported toxic gas dropped on them in possible retaliation.
Russian General Sergei Rudskoy insisted the helicopter was on a humanitarian mission, airdropping food and medical supplies to beleaguered families. After photos and video surfaced of the downed aircraft, experts noted there were no humanitarian supplies in the wreckage. The helicopter was clearly armed for an assault mission and rigged with rocket pods, according to reports.
A spokesman for Syrian humanitarian activists on the ground told Reuters that 33 women and children were affected by toxic gas hours after the crash in the same town. The activists believe the gas dropped was chlorine, while bombs were also dropped. A video posted on Youtube shows workers struggling to breathe while digging children out of the wreckage.
A council of Rebel Syrian groups blamed the Assad regime and its allies for the attack saying, “The daily reality confirms that all the international agreements and previous security council decisions, be they about chemical weapons or otherwise, are meaningless to the Assad regime.”
“This particular model may have been selected so that they could portray the mission as humanitarian in nature, but the overwhelming majority of Russian rotary-wing operations in Syria are attack missions,” Christopher Harmer, a non-resident analyst at The Institute for the Study of War, told The Daily Beast.” The crash killed all five Russian soldiers on board, constituting the largest loss of Russian life since Russia’s intervention in Syria in September 2014.
UN investigators confirmed Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in 2013. U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in 2011 to attack the Assad regime if it used chemical weapons, but reneged on his pledge in favor of a Russian brokered deal for Assad to turn over his chemical weapons stockpile. Despite Russian and Syrian assurances, reports repeatedly surface of chemical weapon use against Syrian civilians.
Follow Saagar Enjeti on Twitter
Send tips to [email protected]
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].