Volunteers listening in to Russian pilots’ radio calls were able to warn people in Khan Sheikhoun that they were the target and identify the jets that bombed the town’s hospital Ammar Abdullah/ReutersAcross Syria, a network of a volunteers tune into the radio chatter of pilots to warn civilians of airstrikes. After six years of listening to the military communications, they have got to know specific codenames and can identify planes belonging to the Assad regime and Russia. One “observer”, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, said that hours before Khan Sheikhoun was hit by a chemical attack last Tuesday, they tuned into Russian pilot chatter. The pilots talk about where they are, how high they are and how close [to] their target but never name it,” he said. “We heard the Russians talk about taking off from Latakia airport, how far their target was and their…

Source: The Times April 12, 2017 00:11 UTC