TECHNOLOGY

World War warning: Air strikes launched by the Russian regime struck Daret Ezza, Aleppo We could be 30 seconds from the brink of World War Three as international tensions over
powder keg Syria threaten to ignite.
As US-led forces announced they had staged 24 attacks on the Islamic State on Saturday,
Russia claimed to have hit 55 IS targets – and president Vladimir Putin taunted the West for
not getting “results”.
But rebels on the ground claimed Moscow airstrikes, combined with ground attacks by forces loyal to Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad
, have also targeted rebel groups not associated with ISIS , including US-trained fighters.
And as the airspace over Syria becomes increasingly congested, military commanders fear a clash of warplanes, helicopters, drones,
missiles and artillery is increasingly likely –
and could have global ramifications.
One military expert warned: “Rationalizing such a complex airspace is not possible – like
getting your mind round a Rubik’s Cube that moves around at Mach 1.5, then adding a dozen more.
Country in crisis: The Syrian powder keg
“Given the amount of military traffic in the air there is a real worry a plane will be shot down
in a catastrophic misunderstanding of intent. It
means we could be seconds from a sudden escalation taking us to the very brink of war.”
Some US planes over Syria have had to abandon targets and even bank sharply to avoid Russian jets.
Bombings: Russia says is smoke rising after airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force
Startling radar images from US Central Command in Qatar show how close US F-16
jets have come to Russian Su-34 war planes
above Syria .
In one terrifying close call Lt Gen Charles Brown, commander of the American air
campaign in Syria, said US and Russian planes came within just 20 miles of each other –
which, at the speeds they travel, is as little as 30 seconds from a disastrous impact.
With the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning stationed off the coast of Syria, positioned to allow J-15 warplanes to carry out airstrikes,
the fear of split-second mistakes has spiralled
even further.
Andrew Foxall, Russia expert at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said an error could
lead to a “diplomatic incident of catastrophic
proportions”.
Vladimir Putin: There are fears he could be using the air strikes as a cover to attack rebel troops in Syria But the wider nightmare is that the proxy war
being fought by a global anti-IS coalition against Putin ’s Assad-supporting troops will
spiral to the brink of all-out conflict.
Dr Foxall said: “Russia has a very different objective to the Nato coalition and the western drive for liberal democracy and
regime change in Syria.
Attacks: Civil defence members and civilians search for survivors under the rubble
"The Kremlin’s primary interest is maintaining
a pro-Russian regime in Syria.”
The intervention of China has further
complicated matters, with fears it could use
airstrikes on IS as a cover to launch attacks
on Syrian rebels.
There are also concerns that Russia is
seeking to expand its influence elsewhere in
the region, particularly among the Iraqi and
Iranian Shia Muslims, hated by Sunni
extremists like ISIS.
Iraq is likely to follow Syria’s lead in asking
Russia to launch airstrikes against IS, a result
of months of covert plotting by Putin’s spies.