Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered state-of-the art air defense missile systems to be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria following the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, a move that raised the threat of a military confrontation between the NATO member and Russia.

The S-400 missile systems, which will be sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, located just about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Turkey, are capable of targeting Turkish jets with deadly precision.

If Russia shot down a Turkish plane, NATO would be required to intervene.

Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber Tuesday, saying it crossed into its airspace from Syria despite repeated warnings. One of its two pilots was killed by militants after bailing out, while his crewmate was rescued by Syrian army commandos and delivered in good condition to the Russian base.

Putin said the Russian plane remained in Syria’s skies when it was shot down. He described Turkey’s action as a “crime” and a “stab in the back,” warning of serious consequences.

On Wednesday, Putin ordered the military to deploy the S-400s to Hemeimeem and took other measures that “should be sufficient to ensure flight safety.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday that the Russian missile cruiser Moskva already has moved closer to shore to protect the Russian aircraft flying missions near Syria’s border with Turkey with its long-range Fort air defense system.

Shoigu also said that from now on all Russian bombers will be escorted by fighters on their combat missions in Syria. He said that his ministry has severed all contacts with the Turkish military.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who canceled his planned trip to Turkey after the incident, described the shooting down of the Russian plane as a “planned provocation.”

He said the Turkish action came after Russian planes successfully targeted the oil infrastructure used by the Islamic State, alleging that Turkey benefited from the oil trade.

Lavrov also said that Turkish territory was used by “terrorists” to prepare terror attacks in other countries, but offered no details.

He said that Russia “has no intention to go to war with Turkey,” but added that Moscow will re-consider its ties with Ankara.

The Russian Foreign Ministry already has warned Russians against traveling to Turkey, and some leading Russian tourist agencies suspended the sales of tour packages to Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that his country does not wish to escalate tensions with Russia over the downing of the plane.

Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation economy meeting in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Turkey favors “peace, dialogue and diplomacy.” He defended his country’s move to shoot down the plane saying: “no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights."

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also sought to ease tensions, saying that Russia is Turkey's "friend and neighbor" and insisting relations cannot be "sacrificed to accidents of communication."

Davutoglu told his party's lawmakers on Wednesday that Turkey didn't know the nationality of the plane that was brought down on Tuesday until Moscow announced it was Russian.

He again defended Turkey's action, saying Russia was warned on several occasions that Turkey would take action in case its border is violated in line with its military rules of engagement.

Davutoglu also said Russia is an "important partner and tops the list of countries with which we have shown great sensitivity in building ties."

The Turkish prime minister, however, also criticized Russian and Syrian operations in Syria's Turkmen region, saying there is "not one single" presence of the Islamic State group there. Davutoglu demanded that operations there stop immediately.

SEE ALSO: The most complicated situation in the world just got even trickier

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You can now learn how to defend yourself with a selfie stick in Russia

The following report is a joint presentation by the Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute.

Russia and Turkey have long been at odds over Syria, with Moscow backing President Bashar al Assad and Ankara supporting the opposition to overthrow him. 

Tensions increased dramatically with the start of the Russian air campaign on September 30. 

The Turkish shoot-down of a Russian combat aircraft on November 24 is an escalation in this tense stand-off between Russia and a NATO member. 

Although both sides may refrain from additional aggressive activities at once, tensions between Russia and Turkey have been continuously growing and are likely to expand, further testing the strength of the US commitment to its NATO partner. These tensions will also severely hinder efforts to build a "grand coalition" including Turkey and Russia.

Turkey's decision to fire on a Russian Su-24 that briefly violated its airspace resulted from more than concerns about the integrity of its borders.  Russian airstrikes have been helping Assad, Hezbollah, and Iranian proxy forces advance in Turkmen areas near the Turkish border in recent days. 

Turkey claims that those airstrikes hit Turkmen villages. Turkey regards the Turkmen of Iraq and Syria as kin, works to protect and advance their interests, and tries to defend them.  The Turkish shoot-down is probably intended to deter Putin from continuing to provide air support to Assad operations against them, among other things.

The incident highlights the grand strategic implications of American policy in Syria, moreover.  The West, led by France, has been drifting in the direction of cooperating if not allying with Putin, whom many wrongly believe is in Syria to fight ISIS. That drift empowers Putin and overlooks the larger objectives of Putin’s maneuvers, as Leon Aron points out. 

Putin aims to disrupt NATO fundamentally as part of a larger effort to recoup Russia’s losses following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has been deliberately and aggressively prodding Turkey from his airbase in Syria, just as he has been consistently violating the airspace of US allies in the Baltics and US partners in Scandinavia.  He is counting on Washington to remain so myopically focused on the fight against ISIS that it overlooks and tacitly accepts these assaults on the Western alliance structure. It would be an enormous mistake if we did so.

This timeline is a joint presentation by the Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. The text is drawn from daily media tracking and analysis conducted by the superb analytical teams at ISW and CTP.

The Syria Team at ISW includes Jennifer Cafarella, Christopher Kozak, and Genevieve Casagrande. The Ukraine/Russia Team is headed by Hugo Spaulding. This presentation was created by Frederick W. Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project (fkagan@aei.org). ISW analysts can be reached at press@understandingwar.org.

SEE ALSO: Russia on downing of jet by Turkey: 'We have serious doubts it was an accident'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows the spread of ISIS through Iraq and Syria

In a brief news conference before Thanksgiving Day, President Obama reaffirmed that there was no "specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland."

Video courtesy of The White House

Produced by Lamar Salter

Follow BI Video: On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sanctioned a Syrian businessman on Wednesday who it said was a middleman for oil sales between Islamic State and the Syrian government, the latest salvo in an effort to cut off the flow of funds to the militant group.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that it had also sanctioned three other individuals for providing support to the Syrian government, and businesses linked to them, including a Russian bank.

The measures, the latest round of sanctions related to the ongoing civil war in Syria, freeze any U.S. assets and prohibit Americans from transactions with the targets.

Islamic State, which has been described by U.S. officials as the wealthiest terrorist group of its kind, is believed to derive much of its funding from oil fields seized from the Syrian government. IS sells the oil through long-standing smuggling networks, experts and officials say.

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has also agreed to purchase IS oil, a Treasury official said last year.

The U.S. Treasury said it was targeting Syrian businessman George Haswani, who it said "serves as a middleman" for oil purchases by the Syrian government from Islamic State. His company, an engineering and construction firm, was also sanctioned.

The European Union sanctioned Haswani in March, and at the time, he denied the accusation that he bought oil from IS militants for the Syrian government, telling Reuters by phone that the EU had no evidence to back up the claim and should instead look for intermediaries he said were smuggling oil to Turkey on Islamic State's behalf.

The U.S. sanctions also target Mudalal Khuri, who the Treasury said assisted or acted on behalf of the Syrian government, its central bank, and central bank officials, and represents Syrian government interests in Russia.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who the Treasury said is a wealthy Russian businessman and president of the World Chess Federation, was also sanctioned for helping the Syrian government. Russian Financial Alliance Bank was targeted for being controlled or owned by Khuri and Ilyumzhinov.

"The United States will continue targeting the finances of all those enabling Assad to continue inflicting violence on the Syrian people," Adam Szubin, acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in the statement.

The United States has used financial and military tools to target the finances of Islamic State, which this month took credit for a coordinated assault on Paris that left 130 people dead. Last month, the U.S. military launched air strikes concentrating on the group's oil facilities in Syria in a campaign dubbed "Tidal Wave II."

Defense officials estimate the group was earning $47 million in oil sales prior to October and that the campaign has reduced that amount by about 30 percent. [L1N13H0O1]

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and Susan Heavey; Editing by Alan Crosby)

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

LONDON (Reuters) - The Labour Party is considering allowing its lawmakers to vote as they wish on whether to approve Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to extend airstrikes to Syria, the Shadow Chancellor said on Thursday.

Britain is already bombing Islamic State in Iraq but Cameron wants to get Parliament's support to strike militants in Syria. He will make the case to British lawmakers on Thursday.

When asked whether Labour would allow its lawmakers to vote as they wished on the issue, John McDonnell told BBC television: "At the moment we’re considering that within the Labour Party and we’ll arrive at a democratic decision."

"In these sort of issues of conscience it is better to allow MPs to make their own minds up," he said.

However, McDonnell said he remained "deeply skeptical" about any British involvement in the Middle East.

"I think we need to learn the lessons of what happened in Iraq, so I come from that position," he said.

Cameron is keen to avoid a repeat of 2013 when he lost a parliamentary vote on air strikes in Syria.

A spokesman for Number 10 said the prime minister would present a "strategy", covering Britain's diplomatic, military, and economic response to the Syrian conflict and the threat of Islamic State, The Financial Times reports.

SEE ALSO: Islamic State video threatens attacks in Russia very soon

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We unearthed Donald Trump's Vine account from 2013 and it's incredible

British Prime Minister David Cameron presented his case to the House of Commons for British forces to extend air strikes against ISIS into Syria. A vote on the airstrikes will be held next week.

Here are the main points Cameron made: 

• Seven of the terrorist plots linked to ISIS were stopped by security forces in the last year
• Britain’s closest allies are the US and France. They want the UK to help.
• Britain shouldn't let other countries act on its behalf.
• British Brimstone missiles are more accurate than US weapons.
• If we don't act now, ISIS will get stronger.
• Britain is a top ISIS target.
• The UN security council resolution authorises military action if countries face armed attack.
• Britain would contribute £1 billion to help reconstruct Syria after ISIS has been defeated.
• Britain has learnt from its mistakes in the Iraq war. This time, it won't dismantle the state or institutions of Syria.

Cameron concluded by saying there will not be a vote for military actions unless a clear majority of MPs are in favour. He also made an impassioned plea for MPs to vote for action:

We do face a fundamental threat to our security. We can't wait for a political transition, we have to hit these terrorists in their heartlands right now and we must not shirk our responsibility for security, or hand it to others.

You can watch his conclusion below via the BBC.

 Here are the questions that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked in response.

• Will British action make a difference?
• Can ISIS be defeated without putting troops in on the ground?
• Will Cameron rule out putting troops in on the ground?
• Does the UN actually authorise action?
• What is being done stop cut of ISIS' arms supplies?
• Will there be an increased risk of incidents like the shooting down of the Russian jet this week?
• Will the risk of terror attacks in the UK increase?
• Is there a chance that the airstrikes will result in civilian casualties?

Here are Cameron's responses to Corbyn.

• The US and France think British help will make a difference.
• Britain will not put troops on the ground.
• There are already 70,000 moderate Syrian forces on the ground.
• The UN resolution gives legal authority for airstrikes.
• MI5 say the threat from ISIS is as high as it could be already.
• In a year and three months of airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, there have been no reports of civilian casualties.

The SNP leader in the House of Commons Angus Robertson also responded. Here are his main points.

• Two years ago Cameron wanted to bomb Assad. that would have helped ISIS advance even further.
• Cameron wants MPs to vote for airstrikes without knowing who will control the ground in Syria afterwards
• The SNP will not vote for airstrikes.

Cameron took questions from MPs for almost three hours. He is avoided being adversarial in his responses and kept assuring MPs that he understood their concerns. It's clear that he is desperate to get this vote through.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Stadium security prevented one of the bombers from entering with an explosive vest, WSJ reports

Russia is preparing to sanction Turkey in response to its downing of a Russian warplane earlier this week, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced in a televised cabinet meeting on Thursday, according to the BBC.

"The government has been ordered to work out a system of response measures to this act of aggression in the economic and humanitarian spheres," which may include "limits or bans" on "foodstuffs, labor, and services from Turkish companies," Medvedev said.

The sanctions "could bite into more than $30 billion in trade ties between the two countries, as police here began seizing Turkish products and deporting Turkish businessmen," The Washington Post's Andrew Roth and Karla Adam wrote on Thursday.

In an interview with France 24 on Thursday afternoon, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "If we had known if it was a Russian plane maybe we would have warned it differently."

He added that his phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin had gone unanswered.

Separately, a group of 39 Turkish businessmen visiting Russia on tourist visas were detained by Russian authorities who accused them of making "false statements about their trip to the country," The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

The state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday that Russian airstrikes had deliberately targeted Turkish aid vehicles in the Syrian border town of Azzaz, killing seven drivers. The town is considered a lifeline for Syrian rebels, who depend on the aid and supplies to continue fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Turkish officials have yet to confirm the report.

Just over 24 hours after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that Turkey said had violated Turkish airspace, Moscow was already exacting its revenge — albeit subtly.

"We're not going to wage a war against Turkey ... But we will seriously reconsider our agreements with the Turkish government,"Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a press call on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

"Our attitude to the Turkish people hasn't changed," Lavrov continued. "We only have questions about the Turkish leadership."

Turkey defended its decision to down the plane on Tuesday, contending that the plane was in Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly before it was shot down by Turkish F-16 jets. But Putin said the plane was destroyed by a Turkish missile while flying in Syrian airspace, roughly a mile from the Turkish border.

By Wednesday morning, Russia had begun bombarding rebels — including Turkmen insurgents, who have ethnic ties to Turkey — in Syria's Latakia province, ignoring demands made by Turkey over the past week to end its military operations close to the Turkish border.

Russia also announced Wednesday that it would deploy state-of-the-art S-400 missile systems to the Russian Hemeimeem air base near Latakia, Syria — 30 miles south of the Turkish border, the AP reported. The missiles, which are able to hit a plane with extreme accuracy, are evidently meant to deter Turkish jets from shooting down Russian planes in the future.

Additionally, Russia issued an official travel warning advising its citizens against visiting Turkey. And Russian travel agencies announced on Wednesday that they would withdraw their business in Turkey until next year, according to a translation by Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Russians account for a huge portion of Turkey's tourism industry — 3.3 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014, the second-largest number of tourist arrivals after Germany and around 12% of total visitors, according to Reuters.

And in a largely symbolic gesture on Wednesday, the Russian parliament proposed a five-year jail term for anyone who denies that the mass killings of Armenians that began under Ottoman rule in 1915 constituted a "genocide," according to an article translated by Foreign Policy columnist and Russia commentator Julia Ioffe.

Use of the word remains a charged issue in Turkey, which staunchly objects to such a characterization. Eastern Armenia remained part of the Russian Empire until its collapse in 1917.

And there is one other way Russia could retaliate against Turkey more directly: namely, by drawing attention to the NATO ally's suspected ties to the Islamic State in Syria.

'Accomplices of terrorists'

As The Soufan Group noted on Wednesday in its daily briefing, Russia "is likely to use intelligence and disinformation to highlight Turkey's dealings with the Islamic State."

Western officials have long harbored suspicions about Turkey's links to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh. One official told The Guardian's Martin Chulov in July that a US-led raid on the compound housing ISIS' "chief financial officer" produced "undeniable" evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members, mainly by purchasing oil from them.

Separately, experts, Kurds, and even US Vice President Joe Biden have suggested in the past that Turkey has helped enable ISIS by turning a blind eye to the vast smuggling networks of weapons and fighters during the ongoing Syrian war.

Biden charged that countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were so focused on ousting Assad that they did not properly vet the opposition groups to which they sent money and weapons. (He later apologized.)

Turkey joined the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in late July, after a suicide bomber with links to the terrorist group killed 32 activists in the southeastern border town of Suruc. Still, lingering suspicions remained about Turkey's commitment to fighting ISIS, as it embarked on a dual campaign to wipe out a Kurdish insurgency in its southeast.

Those suspicions were all but put to rest last month when an ISIS-linked suicide bomber killed more than 150 people at a peace rally in Ankara — the deadliest terrorist attack in Turkey's recent history.

But one day after Turkey downed its warplane, Russia began to bring Turkey's murky history with the group back into focus to discredit Ankara's role in the anti-ISIS coalition — and legitimize its own.

"Turkey has demonstrated that it is protecting ISIS," Medvedev said Wednesday on Twitter, adding that the damage from "Turkey's criminal actions ... will be hard to repair."

Medvedev was seemingly echoing a statement made by Putin on Tuesday, when he referred to Turkey as "accomplices of terrorists."

"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by the Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory," Putin said from the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah.

Lavrov added on Wednesday morning that "terrorists" had been using Turkish territory to plot attacks on other countries, the AP reported. He said the Russian warplane shot down by Turkey had been targeting the extremists' oil infrastructure in Syria.

In any case, this war of words may be as far as Russia is willing to go — for now.

"Putin's initial reaction — calling the incident 'a stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices' — is about as bellicose as could be imagined. But Putin is no stranger to harsh rhetoric, and he has broader interests to play for," geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, told Business Insider on Tuesday.

Bremmer noted, however, that the "huge egos" of Erdogan and Putin certainly would not help future efforts to mend Turkish-Russian relations.

The Soufan Group largely agreed.

"The most unfortunate consequence will be that Russia will now roll back from its apparent willingness to consider solutions for Syria that do not depend on Assad remaining in power," the group said. "This is a key demand for Turkey, and in the macho world occupied by Erdogan and Putin, neither will want to appear to have blinked first."

SEE ALSO: There's one major reason Putin wouldn't want to seriously escalate the situation with Turkey

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How a struggling Soviet spy became the most powerful man in Russia

The House of Commons was packed on Thursday as MPs crowded into the chamber to hear Prime Minister David Cameron outline his plans to bomb Syria.

There was, however, one notable absence — Alex Salmond.

Instead of taking part in the debate, the former leader of the Scottish National Party was 400 miles away, unveiling a portrait of himself at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Salmond, who is now the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman has been very critical of the Government's military involvement in Syria, so it was very unusual for him to miss such an important debate.

Here he is posing with the portrait.

The boy standing next to Salmond is 13-year-old Ryan McGuigan; he became something of an internet sensation earlier this week after a video of him impersonating Salmond went viral. Check him out below.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: An inside look at Marine One — Obama’s favorite presidential perk

Jeremy Corbyn has sent a letter to all Labour MPs saying he "cannot support" bombing in Syria. Here is the text of that letter:

However, a majority of his shadow cabinet are in favour of PM David Cameron's plan to take military action against Islamic State, according to George Eaton of the New Statesman.

Corbyn has said he would not approve a free vote on the issue, and he wants Labour MPs to obey a whip and vote against their consciences — against bombing.

If Corbyn can persuade them to do that, he may inflict a major defeat on Cameron. Here is Eaton:

With the SNP and the Liberal Democrats set to vote against air strikes, Labour's position is crucial. Having said that he will only act if he can achieve a "clear majority", Cameron may pull the vote if Corbyn whips his party against.

The problem is that if Corbyn loses this vote — and Cameron gets his majority in favour, due to a significant number of Labour MPs — then it will fuel the anti-Corbyn rebellion on the Labour benches that believes not having a coherent line in favour of action makes Labour unfit for government.

Here is the BBC's account.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: TRUMP NATION: We tried to answer the 3 questions everyone has about Donald Trump

Istanbul (AFP) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey would have acted differently if it had known a warplane its forces downed on the Syrian border was Russian.

"If we had known if it was a Russian plane maybe we would have warned it differently," Erdogan told France 24 television.

He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not answered his call after Tuesday's incident that has seriously damaged ties between two rival players in the Syrian conflict.

"I called Mr Putin but until now he never answered my call," he said.

Turkey's military said the Su-24 bomber was shot down by two of its F-16s after it violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period on Tuesday. 

Russia however said no warning had been given and that the aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace. 

Tuesday's incident prompted a tough response from Moscow, a major trade partner and Turkey's largest energy supplier. 

Putin has branded the act as a "stab in the back" by "accomplices of terrorists."

But Erdogan denied Ankara was collaborating with the Islamic State and again denied claims that Turkey had bought any oil from the Islamic State group. 

"Of course they are lies, they are slander," Erdogan told France 24. 

"We have never, never had this kind of commercial relationship with any terror organisation. They have to prove it, and if they can, Tayyip Erdogan will leave office."

Turkey also Thursday summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara over a violent demonstration outside its embassy in Moscow over the jet downing.

Several hundred young activists on Wednesday hurled stones and eggs at the mission and broke several windows.

The foreign ministry said it wanted to express discontent over the "unacceptable" protest as well as a series of incidents against Turkish companies in Russia.

"We are dismayed that our representatives in Russia and Turkish companies are victims of physical attacks carried out under the pretext of protests," the ministry said in a statement. 

Join the conversation about this story »

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court has ordered two prominent opposition journalists jailed pending trial on terrorism charges and revealing state secrets.

The Istanbul court ruled Thursday that Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar, and the paper's Ankara representative, Erdem Gul, be taken into custody.

In May, the Cumhuriyet paper published what it said were images of Turkish trucks carrying ammunition to Syrian militants.

The images reportedly date back to January 2014, when local authorities searched Syria-bound trucks, touching off a standoff with Turkish intelligence officials. Cumhuriyet said the images were proof that Turkey was smuggling arms to rebels — a claim the government rejects.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This massive American aircraft carrier is headed to the Persian Gulf to help fight ISIS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - France and Russia will exchange intelligence on Islamic State and other rebel groups to improve the effectiveness of their aerial bombing campaigns in Syria, French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday after talks with Vladimir Putin.

However, the two men remained at odds over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia whom Western and Sunni Arab countries blame for Syria's nearly five-year civil war and want removed from power.

Speaking after a working dinner in the Kremlin with Putin, Hollande said they had agreed to target only Islamic State and similar jihadi groups in Syria. The West has accused Moscow of targeting mostly Western-backed rebel groups fighting Assad.

"What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh (Islamic State) and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism. We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit," Hollande told a joint news conference with Putin.

France will also increase its support to rebel groups battling Islamic State on the ground in Syria, Hollande added.

Hollande is on a diplomatic offensive to build a common front against the militant Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people.

Islamic State has also said it downed a Russian plane on Oct. 31 over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, killing all 224 people on board.

Putin said Moscow was ready to unite with Paris against a "mutual enemy", but he reaffirmed Moscow's long-standing view that Assad and the Syrian government were also allies in the fight against terrorism.

"I believe that the fate of the president of Syria must stay in the hands of the Syrian people," Putin said, in stark contrast to Hollande, who insisted Assad could play no future political role in the country.

TARGET OIL SUPPLIES

French officials say Putin and Hollande have a good working relationship, but in an initial televised exchange before dinner the two men had appeared uncomfortable and avoided eye contact.

Both Russia and France have stepped up their aerial bombing campaigns in Syria since the attacks in Paris.

On Thursday both Putin and Hollande stressed the need to step up air strikes against vehicles transporting oil across territory controlled by Islamic State and thereby deliver a blow to a key source of financing for the militant group.

Putin used the opportunity of the joint news conference with Hollande to repeat his accusations against Turkey of turning a blind eye to oil smuggling by Islamic State. He said it was "theoretically possible" that Ankara was unaware of oil supplies entering its territory from Islamic State-controlled areas of Syria but added that this was hard to imagine.

Relations between Russia and NATO member Turkey have deteriorated sharply since Turkish forces downed a Russian warplane on Tuesday and Moscow has warned of "serious consequences" for economic ties.

Hollande said the downing of the Russian jet highlighted the need for countries to coordinate their military activities more closely to avoid a possible repetition of what he called a "regrettable incident". He again called for a "de-escalation" of the tensions between Moscow and Ankara. 

Putin also said Russia would keep cooperating with the United States and its partners to fight Islamic State in Syria, but that cooperation will be in jeopardy if there are any repeats of the shooting down of the jet. 

"We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States. But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen... are absolutely unacceptable," Putin said.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This 3-minute animation will change your perception of time

Russia will pull out of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria if there is a repeat of the shooting down of its fighter jet by Turkey, Vladimir Putin has warned.

Speaking after talks in the Kremlin with French President Francois Hollande, Putin expressed lingering anger at Turkey's actions, saying he viewed the downing of the jet as an act of betrayal by a country Moscow had thought was its friend.

And while Putin said Moscow was ready to keep cooperating with Western powers against the "mutual enemy" of ISIS, he said the downing of the jet by Turkey this week was "unacceptable."

"We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States. But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen ... are absolutely unacceptable," Putin said at a news conference with Hollande.

"And we proceed from the position that there will be no repeat of this, otherwise we'll have no need of cooperation with anybody, any coalition, any country."

The Russian leader said, under the cooperation already established with the US-led coalition, Russia's military had passed on details of the flight plan of the jet that was shot down this week.

"Why did we pass this information to the Americans?" Putin said. "Either they were not controlling what their allies were doing, or they are leaking this information all over the place."

Hollande was on the latest leg of a diplomatic mission to build a common front against the militant Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris two weeks ago that killed 130 people. He met US president Barack Obama on Tuesday and has also asked David Cameron to swing the British military behind the campaign.

With Russia suffering an ISIS-suspected attack on a passenger jet in the Sinai peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board, Hollande and Putin agreed to greater military cooperation.

They would "exchange information about which territories are occupied by the healthy part of the opposition rather than terrorists, and will avoid targeting them with our airstrikes," Putin said.

Russia was ready to cooperate with other groups ready to fight ISIS, and he reaffirmed Moscow's long-standing view that Syrian President Bashar Assad was also an ally in the fight against terrorism.

"I believe that the fate of the president of Syria must stay in the hands of the Syrian people," Putin said, describing the Syrian army as a "natural ally" if ISIS was to be defeated on the ground.

Hollande, in contrast, said the Syrian head of state did "not have his place in Syria's future."

Both Russia and France have stepped up their aerial bombing campaigns in Syria since the attacks in Paris. Both leaders said strikes against vehicles transporting oil across territory controlled by Islamic State would increase and thereby deliver a blow to a key source of financing for the militant group.

But Putin used the media conference to continue the war of words over the downing of the jet by repeating accusations against Turkey of turning a blind eye to oil smuggling by Islamic State.

He said it was "theoretically possible" that Ankara was unaware of oil supplies entering its territory from ISIS-controlled areas of Syria but added that this was hard to imagine.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev alleged on Wednesday that Turkish officials were benefiting from ISIS oil sales, while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was no secret that "terrorists" used Turkish territory.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Ankara on Thursday, rejected the accusations. "Shame on you. It's clear where Turkey buys its oil and gas ... Those who claim we are buying oil from [ISIS] like this must prove their claims. Nobody can slander this country.

"If you are seeking the source of weaponry and financial power of [ISIS], the first place to look is the Assad regime and countries that act with it," he said.

Hollande said the downing of the Russian jet highlighted the need for countries to coordinate their military activities more closely to avoid a possible repetition of what he called a "regrettable incident." He again called for a "de-escalation" of the tensions between Moscow and Ankara.

Meanwhile France will on Friday mourn the victims of the Paris attacks, with Hollande leading a solemn ceremony in the capital.

Families of those killed will join some of the wounded at ceremonies at the Invalides, the gilded 17th-century complex in central Paris that houses a military hospital and museum and Napoleon's tomb.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

This article was written by Staff and Agencies from The Guardian and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We unearthed Donald Trump's Vine account from 2013 and it's incredible

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is traveling to Jordan on Friday to visit Syrian refugees at a United Nations-run camp, according to media reports.

Carson, a top-tier candidate in public opinion polls, has faced increased scrutiny over his foreign policy credentials amid comments about China's role in the Syrian crisis, as well as remarks likening some Syrian refugees to rabid dogs.

The retired neurosurgeon will visit a Syrian refugee camp in the northern Jordan town of Azraq, according to the New York Times, which first reported the surprise trip. While there, he will visit a clinic and hospital, the newspaper said.

Representatives for Carson's campaign could not be immediately reached for comment. NBC News also confirmed the trip.

U.S. Secret Service agents, along with several campaign aides are traveling with Carson, the Times said, adding that the candidate will return to the United States on Sunday.

Carson and other Republican presidential candidates have criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, citing the possible risk that militants could slip through. The Obama administration has emphasized the refugee program vetting process.

Last week, Carson likened refugees fleeing the nearly five-year civil war in Syria to "rabid dogs."

He also faced questions over his comments at a recent debate about China's role in the conflict.

A political outsider, Carson has acknowledged he faces a "learning curve" when it comes to foreign policy. According to the Times, Carson's advisers said his trip to Jordan was part of an effort to enhance his understanding of the refugee crisis.

"I want to hear some of their stories, I want to hear from some of the officials what their perspective is,” Carson said, according to the paper. "All of that is extraordinarily useful in terms of formulating an opinion of how to actually solve the problem."

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Join the conversation about this story »

On Nov. 17 the Russian Air Force Strategic Bomber fleet started pounding Islamic State and anti-regime rebel forces in Syria.

On Nov. 20, two Blackjack strategic bombers carried out a 13,000 km round trip war mission, taking off from a base in the Kola Peninsula. The two planes flew just off of Norway and the United Kingdom, flew around western Europe, entered the Mediterranean Sea over Gibraltar. After meeting with Su-30SMs that took off from Latakia, the planes launched ALCMs (Air Launched Cruise Missiles) against targets in Syria. They entered Syrian airspace and then returned home via the eastern corridor, flying over Iraq, Iran, and then the Caspian Sea.

Two Il-78M tankers were also part of the mission supporting the strike force, refueling the Tu-160s on their way back home.

SEE ALSO: France and Russia agree to "exchange information" about ISIS

Join the conversation about this story »

Combat search and rescue (CSAR) is one of the highest-risk missions that exist on the modern battlefield.

The situation is often fluid and dynamic; the “known” information is extremely small and the risk to the rescue force is usually high.

The critical factor to the confidence of the fast-mover pilots flying over denied territory is this: They must trust someone will come for them should things go badly.

Recently, we saw that happen when a Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24M “Fencer” was shot down after allegedly violating Turkey’s sovereign airspace. The downed aircraft and a wingman were inside Turkey for a grand total of 17 seconds while flying from east to west at an altitude of 19,000 feet. The aircraft were less than two miles inside Turkey’s southernmost border as they passed through. And while one aircraft veered back to the south, one was engaged by two Block 50 F-16Cs of the Turkish Air Force.

Once the Fencer was stricken and no longer able to fly, both pilots inside ejected. Thus began the Russian Air Force’s attempt to locate and extract their downed airmen.

Combat search and rescue missions are often divided in to two categories: immediate and deliberate. The missions define themselves: In one, a force is immediately dispatched to rescue the downed aviators or isolated personnel. In the other, time is taken to build an intelligence picture, along with a rescue package consisting of ground, rotary-winged, and close air support (CAS) elements, all working in well-planned and organized concert to the goal of repatriating the personnel in question.

The distinction is twofold, and is always chosen based on the risk vs. reward equation.

If the distance is short and the likelihood of capture or injury to the isolated personnel is high, then often the risk of a quick launch mission is validated. However, this risk is high indeed. Without taking the time to build an intelligence picture, to determine the location and condition of the personnel to be rescued, and to leverage a larger force for greater control of the airspace and ground situation, you are launching into a staggering amount of unknowns. In such a case, the mission can go badly in a hurry, as seems to be the case in Syria.

Added into the mix is the complete confusion that is Syria and the surrounding areas at the moment. Two disparate forces are operating across the airspace with limited coordination, and the ground picture is even worse. Syrian Assad loyalists, the Free Syrian Army, and Daesh forces abound, and are often working at cross purposes with all the other forces in play.

Without an easily defined enemy, without clearly defined areas of control or responsibility, and without consistent airborne command and control over the area, the mission launched into a maelstrom of weapons, forces, allegiances, and capabilities. An immediate CSAR mission is already a high-risk job. Into these conditions, the level of risk exceeds easy definition.

To attempt a mission like this is understandable. All of those who have experience in this world have been through the moment in which you're presented withi a mission that, on its face, is guaranteed to be a bad day. What helps is having a solid plan, a force of both air and ground forces that are specifically tasked and trained for this mission. They practice together, they establish standards and common terminology, and they understand the responsibilities and limitations of all the players.

When the call comes, those plans and personnel are launched with the confidence of prior planning, helping to mitigate the world of risks that are out of your control.

What is unknown at the moment is how much was operationally possible for the Russian military in launching a rescue mission for their airmen. While Russian forces are on the ground in Syria, their footprint is small. Their level of preparation, planning, and capability for this contingency is still a mystery.

American doctrine has long included air rescue plans as a matter of course. But the US has also had a great amount of developmental experience operating in denied territory, and that has informed the creation and implementation of that doctrine.

SEE ALSO: Watch a Russian strategic bomber refuel over the Caspian Sea

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's footage of a Russian warplane crashing after Turkey shot it down

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that Russia would be suspending its visa-free travel agreement with Turkey, in light of Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian warplane earlier this week.

The suspension, which will make it harder for Russians to travel to Turkey, is likely to have a significant negative impact on Turkey's economy.

Russians account for a huge portion of Turkey's tourism industry. About 3.3 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014, the second-largest number of tourist arrivals after Germany and around 12% of total visitors, according to Reuters.

The move comes two days after Russia issued an official travel warning advising its citizens against visiting Turkey. Russian travel agencies have also announced that they will withdraw their business in Turkey until next year, according to a translation by Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The move marks perhaps the culmination of Moscow's attempts to retaliate against Ankara.

"Absent a clear Turkish apology, Putin had to show toughness and 'react,'" geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, told BI on Friday.

"But this reaction is carefully measured and not meant to create a tit for tat that becomes dangerous. Russians aren't going to touch gas exports to Turkey. And I don't see military escalation on either side."

On Tuesday, Turkey ordered the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 fighter that Turkey accused of violating its airspace for roughly 17 seconds.

Turkey has defended its decision to down the plane, contending that the plane was in Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly before it was shot down by Turkish F-16 jets. Turkey released audio of those warnings on Thursday. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane was destroyed by a Turkish missile while flying in Syrian airspace, roughly a mile from the Turkish border.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the act "criminal,"announcing on Thursday that Russia would place wide-ranging sanctions on "foodstuffs, labor, and services from Turkish companies" in Russia.

The sanctions "could bite into more than $30 billion in trade ties between the two countries, as police here began seizing Turkish products and deporting Turkish businessmen," Andrew Roth, The Washington Post's Moscow correspondent, wrote on Thursday with Karla Adam.

On Thursday, Putin threatened to pull out of the fight against ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, if Turkey downed another Russian jet. 

"We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States," Putin said at a news conference on Thursday with French President Francois Hollande, according to The Guardian.

"But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen ... are absolutely unacceptable."

On Friday, Erdogan reiterated during a speech in Bayburt, in northeast Turkey, that he didn't want Turkey's relations with Russia to suffer.

But, he added: "We very sincerely recommend to Russia not to play with fire."

'Geopolitical games'

Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, accused Turkey on Friday of  "playing a game where terrorists are allocated the role of secret allies," adding that Russia was ready to block the Turkish-Syrian border to "eradicate terrorism on Syrian soil."

It is unclear how such a blockage would be enforced, or whether it would involve stationing Russian ground troops at the border.

Russia has accused Turkey of facilitating the Islamic State's rise by purchasing oil stolen and produced by the jihadist group in Syria.

"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by the Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory," Putin said on Wednesday from the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah.

Western officials have long harbored suspicions about Turkey's links to the Islamic State. One official told The Guardian's Martin Chulov in July that a US-led raid on the compound housing ISIS' "chief financial officer" produced "undeniable" evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members, mainly by purchasing oil from them.

Still, those links have never been confirmed — a point Erdogan made as he shot back on Friday, challenging Russia to provide proof that Turkey had ever engaged in financial dealings with ISIS.

Erdogan further accused Russia of supporting what he called the "state terrorism" of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has "killed 380,000 people,"according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu. 

Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, began launching airstrikes in Syria in late September on behalf of the Syrian government. But the lifelines Russia has thrown to Assad have not been limited to military aid.

On Wednesday, the US Treasury sanctioned Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a former president of the autonomous Russian Republic of Kalmykia, on suspicion of helping Syria's central bank avoid international sanctions.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned Russian-Syrian businessman George Haswani for using his firm, Hesco Engineering and Construction Co., to purchase oil from the Islamic State on behalf of the Assad regime.

In response to the sanctions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabokov said Washington should stop playing "geopolitical games."

Russian officials complained on Thursday that they had not received a "clear apology" from Turkish officials over the downed plane, adding that they would not communicate with Turkey directly until Ankara apologized.

Though he acknowledged on Thursday that Turkey "may have warned the plane differently" had it known it was a Russian jet, Erdogan has refused to blink first.

"I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," he told CNN in an interview from Ankara.

He added: "Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence."

SEE ALSO: Russia is already exacting its revenge on Turkey for downing a Russian warplane

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Muslim woman who blasted Trump while wearing an American flag hijab is owning her haters

UK based Superdrug Online Doctor hired female graphic designers in 18 countries to retouch the same portrait of a woman to become more attractive to their culture. The shocking responses show the dramatic differences in how different countries perceive beauty.

Produced by Rob Ludacer

Follow TI: On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

Click for the story >

Join the conversation about this story »

On Tuesday morning, the Turkish military said it shot down a Russian fighter jet on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey, a NATO member, says the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace. Russia has denied this.

In a news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the act a "stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists" and added that "today's tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations."

This latest development adds another complicated layer to the ongoing Syrian conflict, in which the key players have varying regional interests and priorities.

Citi Research's chief global political analyst, Tina Fordham, put together a brief cheat sheet listing the key players in the Syria conflict and some of their motivations. 

Notably, this chart is missing some non-state actors, including members of the Syrian opposition who are fighting to remove President Bashar Assad. Many of those groups are given funding and weapons by the CIA, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

If you need a quick refresher, take a look below:

SEE ALSO: The 25 most ruthless leaders of all time

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's footage of a Russian warplane crashing after Turkey shot it down