Above, the USS Arizona blows up!
A new secret pact has taken shape in the Middle East. Last week,
the offices of Russian Putin and Egyptian President El-Sisi secretly formulated
a tripartite accord for strengthening the ties between Moscow, Cairo and the
Assad regime in Damascus. The pact had its first visible manifestation in the
unannounced landings last Wednesday, Dec. 2, of the first Egyptair passenger
flights at Damascus international airport and Aleppo in northern Syria.
The Egyptian national airline thus
became the first of any Arab airline to renew flights to the war-torn Syrian
capital since 2012.
President El-Sisi’s gesture was tantamount to an eloquent vote of support for the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in the face of his opponents in the Arab arena. It was also a demonstration of confidence in the Russian policy of preserving the Syrian ruler in power in the face of powerful voices in the West and the region calling for his ouster.
By sending a passenger plane to a Syrian airport, Egypt’ signaled its affirmation that Russian military intervention in Syria was making the embattled country a safer place where airliners could land without fear.
President El-Sisi’s gesture was tantamount to an eloquent vote of support for the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in the face of his opponents in the Arab arena. It was also a demonstration of confidence in the Russian policy of preserving the Syrian ruler in power in the face of powerful voices in the West and the region calling for his ouster.
By sending a passenger plane to a Syrian airport, Egypt’ signaled its affirmation that Russian military intervention in Syria was making the embattled country a safer place where airliners could land without fear.
Moscow therefore attached supreme
importance to the opening of the Egyptian-Syrian civilian air route, so much so
that President Putin pushed hard for it
to take place ahead of the conference of Syrian rebel groups opening in
Saudi Arabia Tuesday, Dec. 8.
In diplomatic communications with
Riyadh, the Russians urged the Saudi hosts to prevail on the rebel groups whom
they support with arms and cash to agree to enter into direct negotiations with
Assad for ending the war.
Putin rewarded the Egyptian president for his gesture by ordering
Russian airlines to resume their flights to Egypt. Those flights were suspended after
the Russian Metrojet airliner was downed over Sinai by terrorists on Oct. 31
and 224 lives were lost in the crash. Their resumption will see Russian
tourists again visiting Egypt, restoring a precious source of revenue to the
strapped Egyptian economy, estimated at $5B per annum.
It is not known if Russian
passenger planes would again be calling at Sharm El-Sheikh like the ill-fated
Metrojet.
Western
intelligence and counterterrorism sources said on Sunday that an unknown - and
possibly large - number of terrorists who carried out the attack on Paris on
Nov. 13, in which 132 people were killed, are still on the
loose in Europe. Belgian security and intelligence services
have determined that some reached France and Belgium
through Eastern Europe, especially Hungary. They infiltrated the hundreds of thousands of
Syrian refugees who exited Turkey in the past few months. Terrorists
holding French and Belgian citizenship met them in Budapest and
transferred them to France, Belgium and Germany. Many remain unidentified
and their passports or IDs unknown.
Prime Minister Netanyahu
announced Monday night the appointment of Yossi Cohen, above, 53, National Security Council head,
as the next director of Israel’s security service, the Mossad. He succeeds
Tamir Pardo, whose term as Mossad director ends next month. Cohen has served as
Deputy Director of the Mossad.
At least three
Syrian government troops were killed and 16 were wounded on Monday morning in
airstrikes by US warplanes on the Deir Ezzor army base in the eastern part of the country.
The airstrikes apparently targeted an ISIS facility adjacent to Syrian
army positions. Syria's Foreign Ministry denounced the attack, calling it a
"flagrant aggression." It was the first attack in which Syrian
soldiers were killed from a direct hit by US planes in Syria.
U.S. jets, pictured above, bomb Syrian soldiers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1JZeM1Waqs
Turkish soldiers pictured above; 350 Turkish
troops were pulled back from the Iraqi border Monday, after Baghdad protested. The
US said it opposed the entry of any more Turkish military forces into Iraq
without the central government’s consent. There will be no more Turkish
deployments until “Baghdad’s concerns are assuaged,” Turkish Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoğlu promised his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRh7-D4iYDE
Steven ben Denoon asks why did the British add air-to-air missiles to their jets in Syria?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bekE4Z-grjE
Prophecy says Nineveh will be destroyed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHwNKoGRtZI
A year ago Netanyahu warned the French not to recognize Palestine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfylFGyUxck
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