The Russian authorities have quietly confirmed today what we said previously: the hotline between the US and Russian militaries in Syria is still suspended despite previous claims that the Russians had agreed to reinstate it.
It is probably no coincidence that as international tensions have ratcheted up following on the US missile strike on Syria and the US military deployments around North Korea, that Russia has announced that its new hypersonic Zircon anti-ship missile has achieved speeds of Mach 8 in tests.
This claim appears in an article carried by the official Russian news agency TASS.
The whole rationale for British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to cancel his visit to Moscow was that he was needed at the G7 summit in Lucca to push for a ‘united front’ against Russia. US Secretary of State Tillerson would then go to Moscow as a single envoy on behalf of the whole G7, presenting the Russians with the united position Boris Johnson had forged.
Within a few hours of the US attack on Syria’s Sharyat air base the UK based Syrian Observatory on Human Rights is reported as saying that the Syrian authorities have “done the impossible” and brought the base back into operation, so that Syrian aircraft are once again using the base for operations against Jihadi groups.
Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson has cancelled his upcoming trip to Moscow after consultations with the United States.
In a statement on the cancellation, Johnson said,
The US has bombed the town of Hanedah in the western Raqqa countryside.
Al-Masdar news have named the 20 Syrian civilian victims, including children.
Aboud Al-Share and his two sons.
Ibrahim Muhammad and his son.
Yaseen Huwidy and his son.
Hamoud Al-Aani.
Fouwaz Al-Aani.
Ahmad Al-Muhammad.
It has been confirmed that Russian personnel were present at Sha’irat military airfield at the time of the bombing.
It has also been confirmed by the United States, that no prior warning was given to Russia about the attack.
6 people have been died. The nationalities of the dead have not been confirmed.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
Sitting beside Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump offered his initial response to today’s terrorist attack in St. Petersburg.
Trump’s short statement called the attack a ‘terrible, terrible, thing’.
Trump on Russia subway explosions: “Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing.” pic.twitter.com/sv3YyG9pJe
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 3, 2017
Two large blasts have been reported at St. Petersburg’s Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institute metro stations.
At least 11 people have been killed by the blasts and 45 are reported as injured.
Terrorism has been the confirmed cause of the carnage.
Early reports indicate that the blasts came from inside a train car.
Photos have emerged on social media showing the extent of the carnage.
Hours after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a visit to Turkey that the fate of Syrian President Assad should be decided by the Syrian people – reversing the Obama administration’s demand that Assad must go as part of any Syrian peace settlement – Nikki Haley, the US’s ambassador to the UN, has confirmed that there has indeed been a change in US policy, and that the US is indeed no longer ‘focused’ on getting President Assad to go.
