Russia's first air strikes in Syria

The news that Russian military aircraft have carried the first strikes in Syria yesterday made the rounds all over the world.

Sources quoted by CNN were announcing that the attack had been directed at positions of the Islamic State terrorist faction, but other American and local military sources, quoted by Fox News said that the aircraft had attacked positions of the Syrian rebels.

According to a Syrian official, the air strikes had been directed at the outskirts of the city of Homs, in South-West Syria, an area occupied by members of the Syrian Free Army (ASL), one of the military forces of the Syrian opposition. "In that area there are no terrorists at all", the Syrian official said. According to an American source, the Russian Military aviation has most likely attacked positions of the rebels fighting against the Bashar al-Assad regime, according to Mediafax.

Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday announced that Moscow's participation in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria is done on the basis of international law, in line with the request addressed to Russia by the president of the Syrian Republic Bashar al-Assad.

Vladimir Putin recently condemned the American support of the rebel factions in Syria and defended the fact that he was supporting al-Assad in the civil war that devastated his country. In turn, the United States called Russia's support of al-Assad a mistake.

The attack of the Russian forces on areas occupied by the Syrian Free Army (ASL) can however, have other, pecuniary meanings, with implications on the gas industry.

According to an analysis published by the website Zero Hedge, the doctrinary conflicts in Syria have been devised by the Western countries, to cover up the war for oil and gas and for the power and money that come with that.

Zero Hedge stated that the US, Great Britain, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have participated in the organization, the arming and the funding of the rebels of the Free Syrian Army, as stated in the plans of the US State Department, to destabilize Syria. Zero Hedge wrote, a few weeks ago, that in 2012 those countries had concluded, a pact called «The Group of Friends of the Syrian People», which had on its agenda weakening Syria and overthrowing president Bashar Assad.

Zero Hedge wrote: "It is important to note the timing - the involvement in Syria came immediately after the discussions over an Iran-Iraq-Siria pipeline, which was going to be built between 2014 and 2016 starting from the Iranian gas field South Pars, via Iraq and Syria. With a potential extension through Lebanon, it would have eventually arrived in Europe, the target market for exports".

Analyst Dmitry Minin said, in May 2013, that there is a dispute on whether the gas pipelines would go towards Europe from the East to the West, from Iran to Iraq, to Syria's Mediterranean coast, or to the North, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, via Syria and Turkey.

Thus, Syria became a key link in the natural gas supply chain, which supported Iran and Russia.

Zero Hedge also wrote that Assad refused to sign the agreement with Qatar and Turkey for the pipeline in the Northern Qatar field, adjacent to the South Pars field in Iran, via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria to Turkey, which was intended to supply the European markets, while getting rid of Russia. "Assad's reason was to protect the interests of its Russian ally, which is Europe's main supplier", according to Zero Hedge .

After Assad turned down Russia's proposal, it and its allies became the main architects of the civil war in Syria, according to Zero Hedge.

Since Syria is already religiously diverse, the so-called "Friends of Syria" have pushed towards sectarianism as a means of the "divide and conquer" strategy in order to remove Assad, according to the publication.

• Vladimir Putin: "Terrorism must be fought in the territories already occupied by terrorists, before they get into our homes"

The only correct way to fight against terrorism is to fight in the territories already occupied by terrorists, without waiting until they get into our home, president Vladimir Putin said yesterday, in a meeting with the members of the Russian government, according to Russian press agency TASS.

Russia informed its foreign partners about its plans and actions in Syria, Vladimir Putin said: "All of our partners have been informed about Russia's plans and actions in Syria".

The Russian president stressed that Moscow's participation in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria is done based on the international law, in line with the official request addressed to Russia by the president of the Republic of Syria.

On the same occasion, Vladimir Putin said that the terrorist faction the Islamic State has long since proclaimed Russia as its greatest enemy. Putin said that Russia would support the Syrian army "with air strikes, without land operations" and "that it does not intend to deepen the conflict in Syria", and will act strictly within the boundaries of international law.

• NATO urges Russia to play a "constructive role" in Syria, without entering in a conflict with the US

NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, urged Russia to play a constructive role in the fight against the terrorist organization the Islamic State (SI) in Syria and not to go against the actions of the coalition led by the US, Agerpress reports, based on NATO's press office, quoted by the TASS agency, Agerpres informs.

"The secretary general of NATO has praised the contacts between Russia and the US on this issue, but described Russia's actions to support Syrian president Assad as unconstructive", NATO's press service said: "Assad is part of the problem".

NATO announced that it is monitoring the situation related to the presence of the Russian Military Air Force in Syria.

• The Kremlin claims that Russia is the only country whose operation in Syria will be legitimate

Russia will be the only country that will conduct operations in Syria in a legitimate manner, at the request of the country's authorities, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said yesterday, quoted by RIA Novosti.

"The use of military forces on the territory of a third-party country is possible either via a resolution of the UN Security Council, or upon the request of that country's legitimate leaders. In this given case, Russia will actually be the only country that will conduct this operation legitimately, namely upon the legitimate request of the Syrian president", said Peskov.

• The US embassy in Moscow: "Putin and Obama had reached a consensus"

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his American peer Barack Obama have agree, in their Monday meeting in New York, that they have a common interest in the fight against the Jihadist faction the Islamic State, the US embassy in Moscow said, according to RIA Novosti. The statement of the US embassy comes in response to decision made yesterday by the Russian Senate to authorize the use of Russian troops in the air operations in Syria, following a request towards that goal of the leader in Kremlin.

"I repeat that when president Obama met president Putin, they have agreed that the US and Russia have a common interest in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. They have agreed that a communication channel between our soldiers is necessary to avoid the disagreements between the units of the coalition (led by the US) and Russia", said the spokesperson of the US embassy, William Stevens, quoted by the mentioned Russian press agency.

He also reminded Washington's position on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, stressing that he "cannot be a partner in the fight against terrorism and extremism in Syria".

• UN: "The refugee crisis, a global responsibility"

The countries of the world should find a collective solution to the migrants' crisis and consider it a global responsibility, said Peter Sutherland, the special representative for migrations of the UN general secretary, in an interview with German agency DPA granted yesterday.

"Being in the vicinity of a situation of persecution does not involve responsibility", said Sutherland, before yesterday's summit on the migrants crisis, organized by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

He has also called "ridiculous" the position of many European countries that many of the countries that are in Syria's vicinity and the EU members that are close to the migration route, such as Italy and Greece, should bear the burden of the refugees. "Europe hasn't covered itself in glory so far", Sutherland said, and he insisted that "all the countries have a responsibility to grant (the refugees) sanctuary and asylum".