Russian technicians played a key part in the shooting down of a Turkish jet near the Syrian coast late last month, sources told a British newspaper in a story published Sunday.
The Turkish RF-4E Phantom fighter jet was on a routine surveillance run when it was shot down by Syrian gunners near the coastal city of Latakia. The incident sparked a serious international incident, with Turkey sending tanks and anti-aircraft weapons to the Syrian border and Damascus responding with tanks of its own.
Turkey, which admits that the plane strayed into Syrian airspace, has promised to shoot down any Syrian plane that enters its territory.
According a Sunday Times of London report, the Russians and Syrians believed the plane was on a NATO mission to test Syria’s airspace and was shot down, in a split-second decision, to send a message to the organization.
Analysts had suspected Russian involvement in the incident, which drew harsh condemnations, but no military action, from NATO. Russia has protected Syrian President Bashar Assad in the UN Security Council and recently sent a number of refurbished helicopters to Damascus.
Russians supplies Syria with its anti-aircraft batteries and trained its soldiers on their use. Diplomats say the Russians are still on hand in Syria in an advisory role, the Sunday Times reported.
The story quotes an Israeli air force source as suggesting Russia had a hand in the incident: “We would not be surprised if these Russian experts, if they didn’t push the button, at least were beside the Syrian officers who did it.”
Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zubi said last week that Syrian soldiers who downed the plane may have thought it was an Israeli aircraft.
“Turkish planes and Israeli planes look alike,” the minister told the Turkish news station A Haber.
Al-Zubi also noted that the “Zionist country” was in the area, and that the Syrian military is on alert for Israeli aircraft.
“If an Israeli plane enters Syria, it is welcomed by fire. [The Turkish plane] might have been believed to be an Israeli plane; we did not want to take down a Turkish plane,” he said.
Syria has been embroiled in a nearly 18-month-long civil war as rebels attempt to oust Assad from power. Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has harbored fleeing rebels and called for Assad to step down.
Source :http://www.timesofisrael.com
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regretted that his country’s defense forces shot down a Turkish fighter jet on June 22, he said in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet published on Tuesday.
“The plane was flying in an air corridor used three times in the past by the Israeli air force,” he said, but added that he regretted the incident -- which has further fuelled tensions between the two former allies – “100 percent,” according to AFP.
Assad said that he would not allow the tensions between the two countries to turn into open combat.
“We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent ‘if only we had not shot it down’,” the newspaper quoted Assad as saying.
His comments emerged as fighting raged throughout Syria to unseat Assad in what is increasingly taking on the character of an all-out civil war, fuelled by sectarian hatred.
Syrian helicopters bombarded a Damascus suburb on Monday and Turkey scrambled warplanes near the border in the north, as the U.N. human rights chief warned that arms supplies to both the government and rebels were deepening the 16-month conflict.
Asked whether the tensions between Syria and Turkey could lead to war, Assad said: “We will not allow (the tensions) to turn into open combat between the two countries, which would harm them both,” Reuters reported.
He also said Syria had not amassed and would not amass military forces along the Turkish border, whatever action Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government takes.
The paper did not specify when the interview was held, but in it Assad refers to an international meeting held in Geneva on Saturday under the auspices of peace envoy Kofi Annan.
Turkey has heightened military activity along its southern border since Syria shot down the Turkish jet over the Mediterranean on June 22, prompting a sharp rebuke from Ankara which said it would respond “decisively.”
Syria says it shot down the Turkish jet in self-defense and that it was brought down in Syrian air space. Turkey says the jet accidentally violated Syrian air space for a few minutes but was brought down in international air space.
Assad said Syria would not shy away from apologizing if it emerged that the plane was shot down in international airspace.
“The plane was using a corridor which Israeli planes have used three times before. Soldiers shot it down because we did not see it on our radar and because information was not given.”
“Of course I might have been happy if this had been an Israeli plane,” Assad said.
Having sheltered leaders of the Free Syrian Army and allowed them to operate from its territory for months, Ankara now seems signaling much clearer support for the opposition.
“What we now have today is a regime who has strayed so far away from a basic sense of rationality,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davotoglu told a Syrian opposition meeting in Cairo on Monday.
“The only interlocutor for Turkey in Syria is now the Syrian people,... that is the Syrian opposition, which means you.”
That seems likely to mean that Ankara will let the Gulf Arab states increase shipments of military supplies to FSA forces based in Turkey. For the opposition, they are sorely needed.
Western intelligence and special forces operatives already believed to be operating in Turkey may also be pressured to provide much greater support. So far, officials in Washington in particular say their primary task has been less to assist the rebels and much more to find out who they are and whether it might ever be safe to work with them more closely.
Source :Al Arabiya with Agencies
Turkish F-4 fighter. Photo: EPA |
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Earlier the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the Turkish military aircraft was shot down by Syrian air defenses.
Rescue operations continue in the area of the incident. However the fate of the two pilots remains unknown.
Ankara has not yet decided on what measures should be taken and what position to take on this issue.
The decision will be made after all of the details of the incident are clarified, said the head of the Turkish government.
Turkish F-4 shot down by Syria - Erdogan
The Turkish F-4 Phantom fighter which disappeared from radar screens while flying over the Mediterranean on Friday was shot down by Syrian forces. According to a statement by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"After reviewing the data collected by the relevant organizations and the information obtained during the search and rescue operation we have concluded that the plane was shot down by Syria," reads the statement.
It also says that Turkey is determined to take necessary measures as soon as details of the incident are clarified.
Meanwhile the search and rescue operation continues.
Earlier, Erdogan said he did not have precise data, whether the fighter jet was shot down by Syria.
Search for Turkish fighter continues
On Friday at about 12:00 PM Moscow time, the Tracking Service of the Turkish Air Force lost radio contact an F-4 fighter that was flying near Syrian territorial waters according to reports by a correspondent for the Voice of Russia.
There are conflicting reports in the media including a version that the plane was shot down by Syria. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had just returned from Brazil, gave an emergency press conference at the Esenboga Airport in the capital and neither confirmed nor refuted reports that the plane was shot down by Syrian air defenses.
"I'm not saying that the plane was shot down by Syria. We currently do not have accurate reports," stated the Prime Minister.
The prime minister said that he also has no information that the Syrian side has already apologized for the incident.
Erdogan noted that more detailed information about the state of emergency will be available after a detailed study of the issue at a special meeting.
A search for pilots, according to the prime minister, is being carried out jointly with the Syrian side.
Source :Moscow Time
Turkish F-4 fighter. Photo: EPA |
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Earlier the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the Turkish military aircraft was shot down by Syrian air defenses.
Rescue operations continue in the area of the incident. However the fate of the two pilots remains unknown.
Ankara has not yet decided on what measures should be taken and what position to take on this issue.
The decision will be made after all of the details of the incident are clarified, said the head of the Turkish government.
Turkish F-4 shot down by Syria - Erdogan
The Turkish F-4 Phantom fighter which disappeared from radar screens while flying over the Mediterranean on Friday was shot down by Syrian forces. According to a statement by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"After reviewing the data collected by the relevant organizations and the information obtained during the search and rescue operation we have concluded that the plane was shot down by Syria," reads the statement.
It also says that Turkey is determined to take necessary measures as soon as details of the incident are clarified.
Meanwhile the search and rescue operation continues.
Earlier, Erdogan said he did not have precise data, whether the fighter jet was shot down by Syria.
Search for Turkish fighter continues
On Friday at about 12:00 PM Moscow time, the Tracking Service of the Turkish Air Force lost radio contact an F-4 fighter that was flying near Syrian territorial waters according to reports by a correspondent for the Voice of Russia.
There are conflicting reports in the media including a version that the plane was shot down by Syria. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had just returned from Brazil, gave an emergency press conference at the Esenboga Airport in the capital and neither confirmed nor refuted reports that the plane was shot down by Syrian air defenses.
"I'm not saying that the plane was shot down by Syria. We currently do not have accurate reports," stated the Prime Minister.
The prime minister said that he also has no information that the Syrian side has already apologized for the incident.
Erdogan noted that more detailed information about the state of emergency will be available after a detailed study of the issue at a special meeting.
A search for pilots, according to the prime minister, is being carried out jointly with the Syrian side.
Source :Moscow Time
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted June 22 as saying that Damascus had apologized over a Turkish fighter jet crash, in a comment that suggested the plane was shot down by Syria.
“Syria immediately offered a very serious apology for the incident and admitted it was a mistake,” Haberturk daily newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying onboard a plane on the way to Turkey from Brazil.
“At this moment the Air Force and Navy are conducting search and rescue operations in the western Mediterranean, and luckily our pilots are alive, we have just lost a plane,” he reportedly told the same daily.
The incident prompted the government to call an emergency security summit led by Erdogan, who summoned military and intelligence chiefs, as well as the interior, foreign and defense ministers.
Source :
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted June 22 as saying that Damascus had apologized over a Turkish fighter jet crash, in a comment that suggested the plane was shot down by Syria.
“Syria immediately offered a very serious apology for the incident and admitted it was a mistake,” Haberturk daily newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying onboard a plane on the way to Turkey from Brazil.
“At this moment the Air Force and Navy are conducting search and rescue operations in the western Mediterranean, and luckily our pilots are alive, we have just lost a plane,” he reportedly told the same daily.
The incident prompted the government to call an emergency security summit led by Erdogan, who summoned military and intelligence chiefs, as well as the interior, foreign and defense ministers.
Source :
F-4E 2020 Terminator (Image from www.simwolfs.com)
The plane was taken down by Syrian forces, an official Turkish source confirmed to Hurriyet.
The plane crashed into Syrian territorial waters earlier today, according to reports. A missile shattered it to pieces after which the missile plunged into the Mediterranean Sea. The two pilots were later saved off the shore of Hatay, a south eastern province bordering Syria.
Syrian vessels have joined a search operation, which was launched immediately after the Turkish military lost radar and radio contact with the jet. The planes took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya at 10 a.m. local time.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Syrian defense forces had been shooting at two foreign planes.
“Witnesses spotted two jets flying in from Turkish territory. One of the planes went down in Syria’s territorial waters, while the other one made off,” says Ihab Sultan, a local correspondent in Syria, told RT.
Relations between Ankara and Damascus have been marred by Turkey’s open support of the Syrian opposition, which is seeking to topple the government of President Bashar Al-Assad. On Friday, Turkey denied the Syrian government’s accusations that it is supplying rebels with arms.
Still, Turkey remains a NATO member, which means that in the event of an attack it could summon the aid of all the alliance members. In April, Turkey already called on NATO to protect its borders as cross-border fire from Syria hit a refugee camp on Turkish territory. These statements were condemned as “provocative” by Assad’s government.
International relations expert Mark Almond says in the event of a NATO intervention scenario, Turkey might launch a probing flight to assess Syria’s capabilities.
F-4E 2020 Terminator (Image from www.simwolfs.com)
The plane was taken down by Syrian forces, an official Turkish source confirmed to Hurriyet.
The plane crashed into Syrian territorial waters earlier today, according to reports. A missile shattered it to pieces after which the missile plunged into the Mediterranean Sea. The two pilots were later saved off the shore of Hatay, a south eastern province bordering Syria.
Syrian vessels have joined a search operation, which was launched immediately after the Turkish military lost radar and radio contact with the jet. The planes took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya at 10 a.m. local time.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Syrian defense forces had been shooting at two foreign planes.
“Witnesses spotted two jets flying in from Turkish territory. One of the planes went down in Syria’s territorial waters, while the other one made off,” says Ihab Sultan, a local correspondent in Syria, told RT.
Relations between Ankara and Damascus have been marred by Turkey’s open support of the Syrian opposition, which is seeking to topple the government of President Bashar Al-Assad. On Friday, Turkey denied the Syrian government’s accusations that it is supplying rebels with arms.
Still, Turkey remains a NATO member, which means that in the event of an attack it could summon the aid of all the alliance members. In April, Turkey already called on NATO to protect its borders as cross-border fire from Syria hit a refugee camp on Turkish territory. These statements were condemned as “provocative” by Assad’s government.
International relations expert Mark Almond says in the event of a NATO intervention scenario, Turkey might launch a probing flight to assess Syria’s capabilities.
