Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II
(MV Media) Last Friday Turkish media sources reported that Turkey issued an announcement of the shooting down of one of its warplanes, with two crew members, over the Mediterranean. That announcement was followed by a statement from the Syrian military published by the Syrian Arab News Agency which mentioned that “an unidentified aerial target violated Syrian airspace” and was “counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly as it was 1 kilometer away from land, causing it to crash into Syrian territorial waters”.
The incident comes just one day after Turkey denied speculation, based on reports in the New York Times and other media outlets, regarding it’s cooperation in the smuggling of arms into Syria in support of Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
On Saturday the Associated Press reported that Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi told segments of the Turkish media that the incident was not a hostile act and that Syria was exercising its “sovereign right” against an aircraft that was at the time unidentified. He also mentioned that Syria was assisting in efforts to locate the missing pilots. Turkey seemed cautious in its response and, according to the Associated Press, said only that it was “contemplating retaliatory steps”.
Turkey, a NATO member, has been a strong critic of the Assad regime’s handling of internal opposition and recently joined other nations in calling for Mr. Assad to step down. Turkey has also expelled Syrian diplomats in response to strong claims that the Syrian regime was responsible for a recent massacre in an escalating internal conflict that is now some sixteen months old.
© 2012 MuslimVillage.com. Image via WikiCommons.
Further reading:
AP | Syria says Turkish plane downing not hostile act
Syrian Arab News Agency | Military Spokesman: Anti-Air Defenses Intercepted a Target…
