Trudeau Hasn't Ruled Out Military Role In Syria

By: Althia Raj, The Huffington Post 

The Liberal government isn’t ruling out a military contribution in Syria, a government spokesman told Follow-Up, The Huffington Post Canada’s political podcast, this week.

And it won’t say whether it will back further unilateral action in the region by the United States to help remove Bashar al-Assad.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland repeated last week that the Syrian president “has to go.”

Chrystia Freeland leaves after a family picture on the second day of a meeting of foreign affairs ministers from the G7 countries on April 11, 2017 in Lucca, Tuscany. (Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)

“Assad cannot remain in power in Syria,” she told reporters after a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Italy. “We do not see a future for Syria with Assad ruling the country.”

Freeland’s comments came on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to drop 59 Tomahawk missiles on an airfield allegedly linked to last week’s deadly chemical attack in Syria.

Matt DeCourcey, Freeland’s parliamentary secretary, told HuffPost that Canada’s support for further military action in Syria will depend on the circumstances.

“I think those are discussions that we would prefer to have with our allies, through the G7, through the U.N., through our allies in other coalition efforts,” he said on the Follow-Up podcast.

“I wouldn’t want to comment on what hypothetical action the U.S. might take wherever, but I would want to assure Canadians that our close relationships with the U.S. allies is to be knowledgeable and in the loop on their ongoing plans and actions as it relates to some of the conflict zones around the world.”
“I think those are discussions that we would prefer to have with our allies, through the G7, through the U.N., through our allies in other coalition efforts.”

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told reporters early this week that using chemical weapons against human beings is “something that has to be stopped.” He said the decision to drop missiles had been “supported by good intelligence” and was intended to send “a message to Assad that actions like this is not going to come without consequence.”

But what those consequences will be remains unclear.

While Canada is urging Russia to sever ties with the Assad regime, DeCourcey said the country’s participation in pushing the leader out is yet to be determined. Canada is a taking an active part in diplomatic talks, the parliamentary secretary said, but the Liberal government is not ruling out the possibility of military engagement.

“Oh I really can’t say at this point, and I think we all need to be reasonable in our expectations of the length of time we are talking about to come to a peaceful solution in Syria. This isn’t going to happen tomorrow, it’s not going to happen after the long weekend,” DeCourcey said.

“We continue to be deliberate in building good relationships with our allies in strengthening the bond with the U.S. administration and continuing to invest in humanitarian aid, in the diplomatic efforts that we are already tremendously involved in, as well as coalition efforts that we are already involved with militarily to defeat Daesh, which is another horrid wrinkle in this whole situation.

“We will continue to be involved. And we will continue to espouse our values and we will continue to support that stabilized region of the world.”

A senior government source told HuffPost Canada that the cabinet is not considering any military contribution but is keeping options open, in part, because it doesn’t know what requests may come from the Trump administration.

DeCourcey spoke on Follow-Up as part of a larger discussion on the Liberals’ foreign policy agenda and the impact of the Trump presidency. Listen to the latest episode here.

He suggested the close relationship the Trudeau government has sought to build with the Trump White House has “already paid dividends.”

“We have seen the president express, I think, views that are more closely aligned to ours with around multilateralism, around the importance of NATO, around the importance, once again, of finding that lasting peace for the Syrian people,” DeCourcey said, claiming credit for influencing Trump’s about face on Syria and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“We understand that the United States … is a significant actor in the world and our relationship with them is vital,” he said.

RAF "Green Lights" Attack on Hostile Russian Jets in Syria

Will the world clash over Syria? The Possibility of World War Three erupting over the Middle East just go a little scarier, as the RAF have given their pilots the green light to shoot down hostile Russian fighters in Syria.

A RAF Voyager KC2 refuels two RAF Tornado GR4 Aircraft over Iraq, March 4, 2015. Photo: USAF Staff Sgt. Perry Aston

(Below Written by Romil Patel of ibtimes.co.uk)

As relations between the West and Russia steadily deteriorate, Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots have been given the go-ahead to shoot down Russian military jets when flying missions over Syria and Iraq, if they are endangered by them. The development comes with warnings that the UK and Russia are now "one step closer" to being at war.

RAF Tornado pilots have been instructed to avoid contact with Russian aircraft while engaged in missions for Operation Shader – the code name for the RAF's anti-Isis work in Iraq and Syria. But their aircraft have been armed with air-to-air missiles and the pilots have been given the green light to defend themselves if they are threatened by Russian pilots.

"The first thing a British pilot will do is to try to avoid a situation where an air-to-air attack is likely to occur — you avoid an area if there is Russian activity," an unidentified source from the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) told the Sunday Times. "But if a pilot is fired on or believes he is about to be fired on, he can defend himself. We now have a situation where a single pilot, irrespective of nationality, can have a strategic impact on future events."

The RAF Tornados aircraft will be armed with heat-seeking Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (Asraams, also called AIM-132 missiles). These weapons, which cost £200,000 each, can reach triple the speed of sound and have a longer range than other air-to-air missiles, allowing RAF pilots to shoot down enemy aircraft without being targeted themselves.

The Sunday Times' report quoted a defence source as saying: "Up till now RAF Tornados have been equipped with 500lb satellite-guided bombs — there has been no or little air-to-air threat. But in the last week the situation has changed. We need to respond accordingly."

"We need to protect our pilots but at the same time we're taking a step closer to war," said another source. "It will only take one plane to be shot down in an air-to-air battle and the whole landscape will change."
Russia in Syria

The move comes after Russia's entry into the civil war in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government forces. The US has branded Russia's involvement as "fundamentally flawed", with the Kremlin facing accusations that it is ignoring IS fighters to go after al-Assad's opponents.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, an appraisal carried out by UK defence officials said: "It took six days for Russia to strike any Isis targets at all. Their air strikes have included moderate opposition groups who have been fighting to defend their areas from Isis. Among the targets hit were three field hospitals."

In the past 24 hours Russia's Defence Ministry said that it has continued its air strikes on IS positions in Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Raqqa. It reported that the attacks resulted in the "complete destruction" of "53 fortified areas and strong points with armament and military hardware", seven ammunition depots, four field camps of "terrorists", one command centre, and artillery and mortar batteries.

On 28 September, when speaking to the US state-run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Putin ruled out sending ground troops to Syria, saying it was "out of question".

Canada in Syria: No Coalition Cooperation with Russia

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition has not agreed to cooperate with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State and no collaboration is possible as long as Moscow continues to strike other targets, the Associated Press writes.

Here is the rest of the Associated Press article:

He said the U.S. will conduct basic, technical talks with Russia about efforts to ensure that flights over Syria are conducted safely, and, “That’s it.”

Carter spoke during a press conference in Rome with Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti. A Russian official has called for broader talks on cooperation in the Syrian conflict.

The United States, Carter said, is not prepared to cooperate with a strategy of Russia’s that is “tragically flawed.”

“They continue to hit targets that are not ISIL,” Carter said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. “We believe that is a fundamental mistake.”

Carter said he is concerned about the Syrian ground offensive that began Wednesday backed by Russian airpower. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, has hit Western-backed rebels fighting Assad. The U.S. maintains that the only route to peace in Syria is to remove Assad from power.

The US was still waiting Wednesday for a formal response from Russia on a draft document laying out proposed technical safety procedures for the aircraft flights, said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly.

Russia on Tuesday informed the United States that Moscow is willing to continue talks to ensure that the two countries’ aircraft don’t interfere with each other. But Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said the talks should be much broader and also cover potential international cooperation between Russia and the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

The Pentagon only wants talks aimed at making sure there are no conflicts, collisions or other problems as the U.S.-led coalition and the Russians fly over Syria. The U.S. side has proposed a number of safety measures, including using specific international radio frequencies for distress calls by military pilots flying in Syrian airspace.

Carter had called on Russian leaders to discuss Moscow’s military activities in Syria, reflecting urgent concerns about Russian aircraft violating Turkish airspace. NATO on Monday denounced Russia for “irresponsible behavior” for allowing its warplanes to cross into Turkey.

U.S. and Russian officials met once by video conference late last week, before the Russian incursion into Turkish airspace.

Carter and other NATO defense ministers are expected to discuss how to deal with the problem when they meet in Brussels Thursday.

The U.S.-led coalition has been routinely conducting airstrikes on Islamic State militants in Syria.

Russia says the airstrikes it began last week are directed against the Islamic State group, as well as al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliates. But the U.S. and France say at least some of the strikes appear to have hit Western-backed rebel factions fighting government troops, with the real goal of protecting Assad.

On a week long trip to Europe, Carter is focused on reassuring European allies of U.S. support as they face growing security threats from a more aggressive Russia and militant extremists from north Africa.

(the above was written by the Associated Press)