E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A Syrian Air Force fighter plane fires a rocket during an air strike in the village of Tel Rifaat, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, on August 9, 2012.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an anti-aircraft gun as a Syrian Air Force fighter bomber fires rockets in the village of Tel Rifaat on August 9, 2012.
Reuters reports — The sandy color of the Syrian air force jet was visible as it circled overhead. Then a screaming nosedive and the orange flames of firing rockets on the farming village of Tel Rifaat.
Reuters journalist Hadeel Al Shalchi saw the jet make at least a dozen rounds of the village of a few thousand people, 35km north of Aleppo city, firing missiles and mounted machine guns.
Three rebel fighters fruitlessly fired an old anti-aircraft gun and a rifle at the speeding plane.
Villagers panicked - some tried to escape on motorbikes while other crammed belongings and bread into three-wheeled vans. They were unsure of where was safe to go. Read the full story.
See more photos by Goran Tomasevic of the fighting in northern Syria
On Wednesday Syrian troops pushed even farther into the key city of Aleppo where rebels are running short on much-needed supplies. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Leave a Comment:
Those rebels in the village may want to re-think firing on a jet fighter with an antiquated anti-aircraft gun.
All they are really going to accomplish is drawing the jet pilot's attention to farming village.
Which may not work out real good for the people that live in the farming village.
Aren't all the villages in Syria farming villages, except for the coastal fishing villages?
There's a documented case of a U.S. Cessna with only a .50 cal machine gun taking down a soviet MiG in Viet Nam (talk about embarrassing for the MiG!). There's also strong evidence of a U.S. paratrooper taking out an enemy pilot in WW2 (or Korea, I wasn't there) with only his .45ACP sidearm.
A hit with the wrong ammo is much better than a miss with the proper ammo, and multiple hits are better yet.
There are far more numerous cases of the modern weapons platform taking out the antiquated weapons platform.
That's why militaries around the world upgrade their weapons systems.
The odds of that antiquated anti-aircraft gun in the hands of the rebels taking down a Syrian military jet are only slightly better than the odds of the next Pope being a Protestant.
"Three rebel fighters fruitlessly fired an old anti-aircraft gun and a rifle at the speeding plane."
The Syrian rebels are assisted by the Sunni Saudi bigoted proxies like al-Qaida, MB and other Sunni Islamic heroin addicts.
From where did these rebels get their anti-aircraft gun?
Assad, one of the best ME rulers, should not leave a single rebel including al-Qaida, MB and others. He should make Syria their graveyards.
If these mad Islamic religious Nazis are not killing each other, they will on us!
Anyhow, al-Qaida, MB and others consider Amerika as No. 1 enemy. Now Amerika and infidels are getting a break!
Hey Jonathan, you do know that the FSA is opposed to Al-Qaeda being in Syria right?
While I don't think we should be involved in Syria, I do think we should be supplying the FSA with ammo and some basic missile/rocket/grenade systems for use against tanks, helicopters and jet aircraft. We have enough old tech to not compromise ourselves and still gain potential allies in the region. At the least we could use Navy jets to use Phoenix missiles to take out all airborne targets in Syria, unless we have newer tech better than the Phoenix now. I was Army, so not up to date on Navy tech.
Keith: You are forgetting al-Qaida, Taliban cases in Afghanistan.
Whatever you give these Islamic religious mad people will be used against us!
Technology has limited uses in guerrilla warfares as was noticed in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.
Hope you know that US soldiers were airlifted from Saigon airport; in Iraq a huge cover had to be provided while withdrawing and in Afghanistan it will be equally bad or worse.
It will be hara-kari to assist Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, Taliban and others.
The US sponsored Rebel forces are, in part, the very forces that our military has been fighting in Afghanistan and other regions in the ME. The media portrays the Syrian Government as the "Evil forces" in that war ravaged country and accuses the Assad Forces with every atrocity that takes place there. The fact is that as these Evil Deeds are investigated the Rebel Forces have been found to be the guilty force in the majority of these cases, yet the media pays little or no attention to the outcome of these investigations. Then the Obama Administration continues to sponsor the Rebels, which include Al Qaeda troops that are "uniformed and marked" as such. So what the hell is the truth? The US is the sponsor of TERRORIST Organizations and promoting the violent overthrow of a VALID Government that has been responsible for building a country that is, for the most part, modern, functional, involved in world trade and maintains relations with many of the same countries that we, the US, trade with and are in debt to. These countries have vowed to back the Syrian Government if that country were to be invaded by any army of a western power, so the US pays Al Qaeda and the like to murder Syrian nationals to try to oust the rightful government as it continues along its path to doing the same in Iran as it sponsors covert warfare in these sovereign countries. I used to believe that the United States was the country that stands for freedom and justice, that the US didn't promote the murder of innocent civilians in these countries and especially in the United States. As it turns out I was WRONG ON ALL ACCOUNTS and as such I believe this country desperately needs to turn to a Constitutional Government that holds the Constitution LITERALLY as the LAW BY WHICH THIS GOVERNMENT IS RUN and by which we deal with other nations and the people in those nations. If this doesn't happen relatively soon I believe this country is soon to become a FASCIST Government that employs tactics such as Marshall Law in its cities and a total collapse of the ideals that were what made this a great country. The lack of any semblance of justice in the way that this government deals with human beings elsewhere in the world will eventually be the way that this government deals with human beings, its own citizens, right here in the United States. If you doubt the validity of this statement you have closed your eyes to history and the precedence by which this conclusion is made.
I strayed from my reply to Jonathan, I fully agreed with his statement. We are headed for disaster, dealing with the devil is a bad thing, becoming the Devil is the beginning of the End.
The plane is already there firing on the village or else they wouldn't be firing back at it... and just because a gun is old doesn't mean it wont take down a plane... that is like saying if you got shot with a mini ball from the civil war you wouldn't really get hurt, I mean its an antiquated ammo type right?
You seem to think that the Syrian airforce initiated the situation.
I seem to think that the Syrian air force has much better things to do than having fun and laughs by arbitrarily targeting a peaceful farming village.
Though the press story slants otherwise, I tend more to believe the rebels initiated the exchange of gunfire and the reporter saw a golden opportunity to report propaganda that Assad wants peaceful farmers dead solely because he is an evil, wicked, man.
Question for you though, if it was a peaceful farming village of no military significance to either side, what was a pickup truck mounting an anti-aircraft machinegun doing there?
I'll go one step further and suggest that the reporter may have even instigated the exchange looking for a photo op. "It would be a better photo if we could get you actually firing the gun".
As long as America stays out of it who cares what happens over their
Problem is...we aren't staying out of it.
I agree.
I, a poor infidel, am enjoying the break I am getting.
Sunni saudi and Paki backed Islamic radicals and terrorists are resoponsible for 80 percent of world problems in non-Muslim and Muslim nations.
Even Shiites are getting badly treated like infidels. So I would prefer Shiites hitting back with force such that these Sunni Saudi Islamic religious Nazis are taught a lesson.
We would worry about the remaining later! Assad is doing our job!
Well if we're going that rout... why worry about anything that happens in America, so long as it doesn't happen on your town... or take it further... if it doesn't happen on my porch then I don't care lol
Arabs killing arabs... can't say I care.
What a bunch of cowards Shiites are? They talk big, act big and show their bravery before unarmed minorities like Jews, women and others. Then they add their dances when they stone them.
Shiites of Iraq should side with Kurds and should stop oil supplies to Turkey for supporting the Sunni Islamic extremists like al-Qaida, MB in Syria.
Shiites of Bahrain should overthrow their autocratic, corrupt and despotic Sunni ruler.
As they have been taking blows and killings by Sunnis, these Sunnis are able to act as they like to Shiites.
Shiites of Iran should side with Assad and see that all the Sunni rebels are eliminated.
What are the brave Hezbollah doing?
They should do suicide bombings in Mecca and Medina. Or else Shiites genocides just like the genocides of non-Muslims by the Sunni Islamic religious Nazis will continue.
Jonathan My friend you are talking to people that have no idea what's going on in Syria , Most of then don't even know where Syria is and what Syria ever done to anybody , the brain washed people by our media and politicians have forgotten 9/11 and who did it , they show them these same pictures and tell them all these massacres are Assad doing , they have no idea that these thugs in Syria are murdering Christians , Shiites and Sunnis and that these what they call free Syrian army , are no where close to free or Syrians , they are mostly foreigners from all these extremists Muslims countries coming to Syria by the order of the Saudis and Qataris supplied by the US and smuggled into Syria from Lebanon , Turkey , Jordan and Iraq , they are mostly Alqaida left over fighters from the Iraqi and Libyan war and Chechnya's , Tunisians , Libyans , Turks , Iraqis and every little thug in the world and off course the Muslim brother hood of Syria that have no love for Syria or the Syrian people , and to say these people started after a peaceful demonstrations and turned in to armed rebellion is a joke , these people been planning to do this for years , the tunnels , the arms , the training , the numbers of these thugs tells you that these thugs and the Saudis and Qataris been working on this for years , Assad and Syria have the right to use whatever means and weapons they got , and if NATO decided to enter the conflict on some made up excuse ,then they going to find it , that Syria is no Libya and the people in Syria are use to outside forces coming to occupy their country and they know how to deal with them , ask the french . countries are tired of this fake democracy that we and NATO and these no good gulf states that human rights in their countries are bed time stories trying to spread , and my advice to Mrs. Clinton and McCain , Graham ,Lieberman and all these Hawks we got here , lets worry about America and the people here and our problems , and quit giving our tax money away and quit sending our troops to fight some body Else's wars , they had enough and they are tired of your BS .
Thanks!
Read the post of Jimbo right below yours!
Too many wars bring down a nation! Wars fought in ways not fought and places where it should not be done, bring downfall faster!
Disgusting pig should have defected before firing on Civilian Targets - like those Libyan Air Force Revolutionary Heroes did, rather than like the International Treaty on Human Rights Violator who I'd like to see being tried (along with his Commanders) at the Hague did, instead.
Say......anyone got any "spare" Stinger Missile Systems laying about......?!? I was thinking about sending $5 to a Hospital, even though I'm very poor, but......Hmmmmm.
We have to agree with you.
Are Bushes and Dick Cheney going to be tried before to show some balance and fairness?