Russia Bans Commercial Flights Over Syria Following Incident On Monday

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s aviation authority issued a decree on Tuesday banning all Russian airlines from flying over Syrian territory following an incident on Monday in which a passenger plane reportedly had to make a detour to avoid military action in the war-torn country.

Rosaviatsia, the Federal Air Transportation Agency, said earlier that a charter plane belonging to Russia’s NordWind Airlines flying from Egypt's resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to Russia's central-western city of Kazan decided to increase its altitude for safety reasons after one of the pilots spotted combat activity below the plane. The Airbus 320 plane carrying 159 passengers landed in Kazan as scheduled, but the incident prompted the aviation authority to issue new restrictions.

“In order to ensure the safety of passengers and crew members on Russian commercial flights, Rosaviatsia has sent out an order to avoid Syrian air space,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

--CLIP
Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for Russia’s union of travel agencies, told RIA Novosti that the pilots had reported seeing “flashes over Syrian territory where they were flying.” She added that the source of the flashes was not yet clear.

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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130430/180926650/Russia-Bans-Commercial-Flights-Over-Syria.html

[Purveyor]

1. UPI: Missiles Said Fired At Russian Plane Over Syria

I seen this report yesterday and usually don't post upi stuff but since the Russia's are confirming I'll post for reference

MOSCOW, April 30 (UPI) -- Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was taking emergency action after two missiles were fired at a Russian commercial passenger jet flying over Syria.

The Nordwind Airlines Airbus A320 with 159 passengers and eight crew members had to take evasive action to avoid the two surface-to-air missiles fired by unidentified assailants, the non-governmental Interfax news agency said, citing an informed source in Moscow.

No one on the chartered plane was injured and the jet full of vacationers returning from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheik landed safely and on time in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism said.

"The Syrian side informed us that on Monday morning, unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles that exploded in the air very close to a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline," the agency quoted the source as saying.

"The crew was able to move the aircraft to the side in time, saving the lives of the passengers," the source said.

The white commercial aircraft with a deep red tail section is believed to have been intentionally targeted, the source told Interfax, "but it remains unclear whether the attackers knew it was Russian or not."

http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2013/04/30/Missiles-said-fired-at-Russian-plane-over-Syria/UPI-16941367295531/