By Claude Salhani- Trend:
Many of us saw the horrific video of a Russian military search and rescue helicopter being hit full force by a US-made TOW anti-tank missile fired by "moderate" Islamists affiliated with the plethora of Syrian opposition fighters. As the Russian craft exploded shouts of "God is great, God is great" broke out in Arabic.
There are number of very disturbing factors here.
One: The fighters who used the TOW anti-tank weapon (tube-loaded, optically-tracked, wire-guided) on a helicopter were considered moderate probably because they did not decapitate the soldiers before killing them. They killed them outright.
Second: is the praise to the Almighty by the gunmen who rejoice, firmly believing that they are acting in good faith and are doing God's work by killing and waging a terror campaign against anyone who disagrees with them. They believe that their god would sanction such behavior, whereas if you are familiar with any of the narrative in any of the three Holy Books - you learn very early on that the God of the Muslims, the God of the Christians and the God of the Jews is one and the same God. And neither that God, nor any other deity, except perhaps for the god Kali seem to care much for death.
I wonder if the Russian soldiers felt any better being killed by "moderates" rather than by the really, really, bad guys. Moscow must be furious today. This was the helicopter that went looking for the downed pilot of the Russian bomber that was hit earlier.
Three: What was the US-made TOW missile doing in the hands of Syrian rebels?
Moscow is not the enemy in this war, they are allies engaged in fighting the same enemies as Washington, Paris, London and Brussels.
Claude Salhani is a senior editor with Trend Agency. You can follow Claude on Twitter @Claudesalhani