Turkey threatens Syria with retaliation for downed jet

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey's prime minister, responding to the downing of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces, said Tuesday that Turkish military will respond to any future violation of its border by Syrian military elements.

"The rules of engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces have changed," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "Any military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria by posing a security risk and danger will be regarded as a threat and treated as a military target."

Syria insists that the Turkish plane violated its air space on Friday. But Turkey says that although the unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down.

The head of the NATO military alliance called the downing of the jet unacceptable on Tuesday, shortly after Turkey briefed NATO's North Atlantic Council in discussions held under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty, which allows a NATO member to request consultations if its security has been threatened.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-06-26/Turkey-Syria-downed-jet/55833402/1

[dipsydoodle]

1. Posturing

That's all.

This is becoming an artificial attempt to involve NATO is the Syria affair.

[leftynyc]

3. Artificial?

So Syria didn't really shoot down a NATO ally military jet? That was our imagination? Look, I don't want the US to get involved at all in Syria but to say this is artificial is kinda a joke considering there are two pilots who still haven't been found.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Until the wreckage is found

nobody really know where the incident occurred.

[leftynyc]

7. I see

You're just making assumptions that fit into your worldview that anything the west does is wrong. Not worth my time as I'm bored by people like you.

[may3rd]

12. which side will plug the Kurds into the quagmire ?

That's the question. Will Syria ramp up artillery strikes into Turkey chasing "miscreants" that cross into their land to fan flames?

[clang1]

13. Distraction n/t

[leveymg]

4. According to the radar trace, the Turkish jet circled in and out of Syria 4 times before

Syrian air defense finally shot it down. The RF-4E was well inside Syrian territory, and had violated the border several times, when it was intercepted.

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, reported that according to a Syrian military spokesman, an unidentified aerial object violated the country's airspace and was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery. The aircraft crashed into Syrian territorial waters west of Om al-Tuyour village in Lattakia province, 10 kilometers from the beach. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/327217#ixzz1yjgYtRGQ

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18584872


NOTE 1: Latakia, the northernmost coastal city in Syria, is about 70kms south from the Turkish border. Om al-Tuyour is approx. midway.



Geography of Syria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Syria
Latakia along with Tartus are Syria's main ports on the Mediterranean sea. ...

NOTE 2: Syria claims a territorial limit of 35 nautical miles (64.8 km; 40.3 mi) off its coast.

[David__77]

6. Well, both sides should certainly keep out of each other's territory.

Turkey would be in its rights to do that.

[crimson77]

8. I don't get Syria's thinking

Turkey would demolish them, let's not even get into the Nato issue.

[Posteritatis]

9. It was most likely some nervous, lower-echelon guy who 'started' it all

You're manning part of an air defense battery, your country's unambiguously in the midst of a civil war, fellow soldiers are defecting, the entire planet's collection of diplomatic spotlights are aimed at your government, things aren't making sense, they're changing too quickly, you don't know what's going to be going on this time next year or this time next month or this time next week, and so on and so forth. It would not be a comfortable place to find yourself.

The lower-level weapons systems like an individual air defense battery or the like definitely aren't going to be centrally controlled. If you've got a scared kid on one of those at the wrong time, stuff like this will happen, and not even necessarily through anyone's fault on either side.

[BadtotheboneBob]

10. I agree...

... That's one reason why Iran is so leery of Turkey. The Turkish military is well-armed, well-trained and potent as a stand-alone force. Hopefully, Turkey will not feel it has to use its muscle. I believe that Syria realizes it made a big mistake by downing that aircraft. May cooler heads prevail on both sides and somehow the carnage within Syria comes to an end. How the later may occur, I'm not at all certain. I'm not at all in favor of a western (read: NATO) intervention. If someone wants to support and arm the rebels, let it be the KSA/UAE.

[roamer65]

11. Assad is toast.