Russia accuses Turkey of preparing to invade Syria

Earlier this week, Moscow requested an observation flight over Turkish land close to the Syrian border but was refused, sparking concerns Ankara is attempting to “hide military activity”.

In a “dangerous precedent,” Turkey on Wednesday banned Russian military planes from carrying out inspections of its territory allowed under the Open Skies accord, the Defense Ministry said.

Russia added fighter escorts after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian bomber at the border with Syria on November 24.

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Moscow’s warning is the latest escalation in tensions between to the two states.

The State Department’s Kirby, however, said that Russia’s pledges to end the Syria conflict through political dialogue did not match its military actions on the battlefield, where it continued to bomb opposition positions.

When asked about the reward given to this Russian citizen, Peskov said: “If the document [decree on awarding] is of an open nature, we will comment on this”.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday that at least 21 civilians, including three children, had been killed by Russian strikes in rebel-held districts of Aleppo.

He also noted that Russia’s air forces mostly bomb opposition’s positions, rather than the positions of the militants of the “Islamic State” terrorist organization (IS, ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh).

Speaking at the global donors conference in London, Ahmet Davutoglu said up to 70,000 others who had been sheltering in camps north of Aleppo were moving toward the Turkish border.

“We have a fresh crisis with Russian Federation”, he said, as he cast doubt on whether the the reconnaissance flight might actually have a military mission across the border in Syria.

Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.

Assad’s foreign opponents have been funnelling weapons to vetted rebel groups via both Turkey and Jordan.

Another rebel commander said: “They are promising to continue the support”.

United Nations agencies are appealing for a total of $7.73 billion to cope with Syria’s needs this year, with a further $1.2 billion required by regional governments for their own plans to deal with the impact of Syria’s conflict. How it will crystallise, nobody knows…

Both spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the issue. The Russian defence ministry dismissed the claim as “baseless propaganda”.

“They [Russian military advisors] are not participating in any ground operations. This is linked to teaching Syrian colleagues to operate equipment which is being delivered to Syria under existing contracts”.