Posted on 01/26/2014 9:19:25 PM PST by Seizethecarp
Islamist militants shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula with a surface-to-air missile over the weekend, raising new alarms about the terrorist insurgency that developed there in response to the military takeover last summer.
The attack — described by witnesses, documented in a video released by the militants, and confirmed by three people briefed on the Egyptian government’s investigation — validated longstanding fears that such weapons would spill into Egypt and beyond after the Libyan civil war tore open Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fearsome arsenals.
Known as manpads, for man-portable air defense systems, the missiles can bring down commercial airliners if they are flying at low altitude, as during takeoff and landing.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a militant group based in Sinai that has claimed responsibility for an escalating series of attacks on police and soldiers, said in a statement posted on jihadist websites that it had succeeded in “downing a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile and killing its entire crew in the area around the city of Sheikh Zuweid” in North Sinai, near the border with Gaza. The group, which quotes Al Qaeda leaders in its online video statements, said it had targeted the aircraft “in an area clear of residents to preserve the lives of Muslims.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The NY Times article mentions Libya as a source for the manpad but omits reference to the mystery Benghazi CIA activities.
Youtube claiming to show the shoot-down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52FSbORUEp8&feature=youtu.be
“Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis released a video on Sunday night that appeared to show one of its fighters firing the missile, and the burning aircraft falling from the sky.”
Some of those Stinger missiles that 0bama gave his brothers in the Muslim Brotherhood?
...must be test driving the latest shipment of the Libyan imports...
From the article:
“All the pilots there operate under the assumption that they can be targeted,” Mr. Yaari said. “We have known for a long time that those guys in the Sinai have a lot of manpads from Libya.”
“Late on Saturday, however, Sameh Seif el-Yazal, an outside expert who has often acted as a mouthpiece for the Egyptian military, said in a television interview that the helicopter had been shot down by a missile, which he described as a Russian-made Strela 2 — a form of manpad that was very common in Libya after Colonel Qaddafi fell. On Sunday, two people briefed on the Egyptian investigation confirmed that account.
“A senior American official said preliminary evidence indicated that the helicopter had been shot down by a shoulder-fired missile, probably of the type that Russians call a Strela 2 and NATO calls an SA-7.”
GMTA
Manpads..... Sounds like some sanitary product for men who really want to be tough, rugged....... Manpads.
MANPADS from Benghazi, perchance?
If that vid is real, it is an SA-7.
I’ll defer to your expertise. Can’t watch videos where I am at the moment.
Pro and anti-Morsi/MB Egyptian Muslims are really going at it in the comments on this video!
Coming soon to an airport near you! Thanks Obama and Hillary!
Looks like it...
http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/benghazi-descends-into-chaos-under-u-s-backed-regime/
WND:
Peter Bouckaert, the emergency director at Human Rights Watch, confirmed to WND in an interview an Associated Press report Monday that Russian-made SA-7 portable, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile systems, known as MANPADS, that likely came from Gadhafi’s arms depots in Libya are now in the possession of Islamic terrorists in Mali who have links to al-Qaida.
“I visited a lot of the weapons storage facilities in Libya after the fall of Gadhafi, and I found that a lot of the MANPADS were missing,” Bouckaert explained. “We also had the shipping documents from Russia. For many years, Russia was one of the main weapons suppliers to Gadhafi. We raised the alarm about the missing weapons back then.”
Bouckaert also confirmed there were Russian SA-7 MANPADS in the three cartons of weapons and ammunition confiscated in April 2012, when Lebanon intercepted the cargo vessel Luftfallah II, registered in Sierra Leone. The ship had departed from Libya bound for the Free Syrian Army, a coalition of rebel fighters seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
What difference does it make???
It would certainly be a feather in State’s cap for Egypt to indict the Hildabeast...
There’s probably a number of people on this site that think the trouble in Benghazi ended the night of the attack on our embassy and ambassador. I think it’s an easy thing to do. Truth is, it’s a hot-bed of trouble now and will be for a long time to come.
So for Libya and Egypt, thanks Mr. President. Thanks for introducing new weapons into the region, ones that will undoubtedly be used to kill hundreds if not thousands of our citizens and allies over the next decade.
Obama, the Islamic answer to how the U. S. would be ruled by an Islamic Cleric.
Manpads supplied to the islamists by Obama? Likely. But what difference does it make?! /Clinton
What is the difference between an Islamist and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood?
All MB are Islamists, but not all Islamists are MB...
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