As previously reported, on 1 August over the Syrian province of Idlib by ground fire shot down returning from a humanitarian mission in Aleppo, the Russian Mi-8 helicopter, on Board of which there were three crew members and two officers of the Centre for reconciliation. No one survived.
As the head of the Main operations Directorate of the General staff Lieutenant-General Sergey rudskoy, the territory over which was laid the last route of the Mi-8 are under the control of the group “Dzhebhat EN-Nusra” * and joined her “moderate opposition” that now form the coalition Jaish al-Fatah.
A few hours after the tragedy, the U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry urged Russia to refrain from offensive operations in Syria, perhaps fearing the vengeance of Moscow. “It is imperative that Russia was holding back and the regime of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad from conducting offensive operations, as well as our duty to make the opposition refrained from participating in these operations,” said Kerry. According to him, it was an active offensive of the Syrian army led to the fact that the representatives of the “moderate” opposition refused to participate in negotiations in Geneva. Despite the words of Kerry that Washington will keep “moderate” militants, now those are offensive in the South-West of Aleppo, with the aim to break through the encirclement of Syrian troops and release of the Eastern areas of the city.
Meanwhile, the expert community began to discuss what retaliatory steps followed from Moscow after the death of the helicopter with all crew. The publication “Kommersant”, citing its sources, reported that the General staff re-examine the variant with connection of strategic aviation, which bombed Aleppo to nearby areas, where the positions of militants. This could facilitate the task Assad’s troops surrounded the city you don’t want in Washington.
