MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russia has blasted the U.S. for urging other countries to deny port access to Russian oil tankers heading to Syria to deliver fuel to Moscow’s jets, which are on anti-terror mission in the Arab country.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov denounced the U.S. call as an attempt to hamper Moscow’s attempts to "fight international terrorism in Syria.”
The remarks came after U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that regional countries should bar Syria-bound Russian tanker ships from their ports as fuel will be used in Russia's anti-terror air raids.
Elsewhere in his comments, Konashenkov said that Washington’s call intended to "conceal the failures of the U.S. policy” in Syria.
He further stressed that Moscow has achieved much more with its campaign in Syria than the U.S.-led coalition purportedly fighting the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

Egypt Deploys Pilots  

Egypt has reportedly sent 18 helicopter pilots to Syria to support the war-torn nation in its fight against terrorism, and mulls more deployments to the same end early next year.
Lebanese As-Safir paper cited "well-informed Arab sources” as reporting that Egypt had dispatched the pilots to an airbase in the western Syria city of Hama on November 12, adding that the contingent was joined by four senior Egyptian military figures upon arrival.
It added that two Egyptian major generals had also been operating at the Armed Forces Staff Headquarters in the Syrian capital Damascus since last month. They have been touring frontlines, including the "Southern Front” in the city of Quneitra.
The daily cited one source "close to the Syria file” as saying that a large deployment of Egyptian troops will arrive in Syria in late January 2017 to take part in military operations "not limited to air support at Hama airbase.”
While Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Persian Gulf region, particularly Qatar, are financially and militarily supporting the extremists fighting to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian officials have reiterated that the crisis in Syria can only be solved through political means.
On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi said he supported the Syrian army in its war against terrorists.

Turkey Violates Syria’s Sovereignty

Turkish warplanes have carried out a series of airstrikes on the Syrian city of al-Bab in yet another blatant act of aggression against the sovereignty of the Arab state.
According to the Turkish military, the airstrikes were conducted against targets in the city of al-Bab, located some 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo, shortly before 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday.
The military claimed the attacks targeted Daesh.
The strikes are part of an ongoing incursion by Turkish military inside northern Syria.
On August 24, Turkish special forces, tanks and jets backed by warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition launched their first coordinated offensive in Syria. On the same day, Damascus strongly denounced the intervention as a breach of its sovereignty.
Senior officials in Damascus have said that any side willing to fight terrorism on the Syrian territory should cooperate with the government and the Syrian army.
The latest strikes were carried out after three Turkish soldiers were killed in the area on Wednesday. Turkey claimed that a suspected Syrian airstrike had killed the three.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday that Ankara would retaliate against the Syrian army, which has not commented on the developments.