Originally Posted by
Eclectic
What were they trying attach to Hama to? Terra Firma? Will give this another day to see how things are going, but my below linked Reuters article has this:
"Other footage from Hama showed rebels from the Free Syrian Army firing anti-tank missiles and hitting two army tanks.
@TEEJ: Tomahawkski? Was that a recent Russian
PR release? (Kalibr/Sizzler is the estimate ...)
Some interesting points raised
in this Reuters article, not sure how close to the mark they are.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0S10BI20151007
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia took part in the fighting, a regional
source said.
.
The missiles would have passed over Iran and Iraq to reach their targets,
covering what Shoigu described as a distance of almost 1,500 km (900 miles), the
latest display of Russian military power at a time when relations with the West
are at a post-Cold War low over Ukraine.
As we've not heard much noise from Iran and Iraq about this, perhaps they don't mind this airspace violation, or agreed with the Russians ahead of time? I suspect the latter.
But in Iraq, the head of parliament's defense and security committee said Baghdad may request Russian air strikes against Islamic State on its soil soon and wants Moscow to have a bigger role than Washington in fighting the group.
This sounds like "time to take the kid gloves off" as their frame of mind.
Iraq's government and powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias question the United States' resolve in fighting Islamic State militants, who control a third of the country, saying U.S.-led coalition air strikes are ineffective.
“We might be forced to ask Russia to launch air strikes in Iraq soon ... and that depends on their success in Syria," Hakim al-Zamili told Reuters.
This looks like a shot across the bow for President Obama and his current policy in re Iraq.
The response may take a few days, but it will be interesting to see what rhetoric erupts out of Washington, having been called out.