Russia's Air Agency: Civilian flights need security guarantees
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The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency stresses that for civilian air craft to fly over Syria, there must be a high level of security guarantees in addition to a comprehensive assessment.
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Missiles in the sky aiming to strike near the international airport, in Damascus, Syria, on January 21, 2019. (SANA )
The situation in Syria is tense, and civilian aircraft flights issue requires a comprehensive assessment and security guarantees, according to the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency on Tuesday.
"Currently, the tense situation in Syria continues to persist due to the ongoing armed conflict. In this regard, the issue of the flights of civil aircraft of Russian airlines in the airspace of Syria requires a comprehensive assessment," the agency said.
Moscow sent an appeal to the Syrian authorities on the security guarantees regarding the safe passage of Russian airlines through Syrian airspace but is yet to receive an answer, according to the agency.
Earlier today, Tuesday, Basem Mansour, the head of the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, told Sputnik that the Syrian authorities have given permission for the passage of civilian Russian aircraft through its airspace as they wait for Moscow's decision on the matter.
Turkey in talks with Russia to use Syrian airspace
On Sunday, Turkey announced that it was in talks with Russia to use Syrian airspace to conduct a cross-border operation against the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia in northeastern Syria.
The United States has been arming Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria, making grounds for oil and gas theft. In August, SANA reported that US armed forces looted a convoy of 65 tankers filled with oil from the region of Al-Jazeera, then headed toward their military bases in Iraq, smuggling their looted cargo via the illegal Al-Mahmudiyah border crossing.
Turkey has conducted a number of operations in northern Syria against the US-backed SDF and the YPG, threatening further incursions over a period of months.
Last month, it ramped up its military preparations after an explosion in Istanbul, which Kurdish militants were held accountable for, though denied involvement. Ankara then launched strikes against YPG targets, and the president gave the possibility of a coming-ground offensive.
