General Joseph Dunford Blames Russia For Convoy Airstrike, And Others Follow His Lead

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, blames Russia for the air strike on the Syrian Red Crescent convoy that took place on Monday.

According to one source, The Saisat Daily, the general blames Russia, but also acknowledges that the Syrian air force was flying over the town of Orum al-Kubra outside of Aleppo, where the convoy that was attacked was located. It also states that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter also blames Russia for the attack.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Russians are responsible. We just don’t know who dropped the bombs.”

General Joe Dunford was “grilled” before the Republican-led committee on Thursday to answer questions about the failed ceasefire that had been imposed on September 12, before it was already under threat of collapse by the end of the week, along with other details about the U.S.-led coalition.

Pentagon denies Russian claim coalition drone was near Syria aid convoy https://t.co/nOw6OxRlbb

— The Daily Star Lebanon (@DailyStarLeb) September 21, 2016

Currently, the Pentagon also blames Russia for the attack, and they have also refused to collaborate with the Russian Defense Ministry to carry out strikes against extremists on the ground, which Russia is pushing for.

Many feel that doing so would compromise American intelligence, which is already a legitimate concern, despite Russia’s claims that they too want to go after the extremists. It is clear that they do not want to push out the Assad regime, even though he has publicly killed his own people, since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.

The latest attack by Syrian troops on Friday was against the volunteer White Helmets, according to CBS News, which reports that various centers or buildings used by the volunteers were destroyed.

As to the accusation that Russia attacked the convoy earlier in the week, they deny it and have come up with a variety of scenarios to explain the destruction of the convoy, such as blaming terrorists on the ground and stating that extremists were with the convoy.

Aside from General Joe Dunford, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also fired back at Russia for not doing their part with the ceasefire. According to one report by CNN, John Kerry fired back at both Syrian delegates and Russia after Sergey Lavrov spoke at the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday.

“How can people go sit at a table with a regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again and again and again and again and acts with impunity. You’re supposed to sit there and have happy talk in Geneva while the regime drops bombs?”

Since then, Kerry has said that they are making some progress with more talks and the sharing of ideas with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, hoping for a peaceful resolution.

Solid argument in favor of establishing a no-fly zone in Syria by former top Pentagon official @EvelynNFarkas https://t.co/W0bey0d1qk

— Robert Caruso (@robertcaruso) August 29, 2016

Aside from General Joseph Dunford — as one article by Inquisitr shows, humanitarian watch groups have blamed Russia for carrying out attacks on civilian targets and hospitals. In another post, the declaration from the Syrian government, as repeated by John Kerry, is that they would also target civilians, in order to put pressure on the rebels.

In any case, making another agreement and expecting it to hold is already way past the threshold of possibility. If it is true that Russia targeted the convoy, then, as another Inquisitr article has said, there is no way that the United States can count on Russia to hold its end of the deal, especially during an election year with claims that Russia might very well be behind various sneak attacks on electoral databases and political party networks.

This comes back around to the Republican party candidate Donald Trump, who according to one report by Yahoo! News, has one of his top aides currently being investigated for the possible sharing of information with Russian officials.

In general, there is a lot to blame Russia for in regard to domestic issues; issues in the Ukraine and now in Syria, which is already being considered a foreign policy disaster for the Obama administration.

[Featured Image by Andrew Harnik/AP Images]