| Downed Turkish fighter ‘violated’ Syrian airspace |
DAMASCUS Syria insisted on Monday that a Turkish warplane shot down by its forces violated its airspace as Nato members prepared to hold an emergency meeting at Ankara’s request to discuss the downing of the jet. The incident has reignited concern over the Syria conflict, with the European Union condemning the Damascus government and slapping new sanctions against it while also warning of the dangers of military escalation.
Referring to the incident, Turkey’s Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Syria intentionally shot down the Turkish F4 fighter jet in international airspace with a missile.
“There is no doubt that the Syrians intentionally shot down our plane in international airspace,” he told the cabinet. “The facts in our possession show that our plane was hit by a heat-seeking guided laser missile.”
A rescue plane sent to find a Turkish fighter jet that had been shot down over the eastern Mediterranean was itself placed in the crosshairs by the Syrian military, a European diplomat said. The Turkish army plane was searching on Friday for the downed jet before it was targeted by a Syrian ground-to-air defence system, said the diplomat.
As tensions simmered, a Syrian general was among a new group of officers and soldiers to defect and join the growing rebel ranks in Turkey, media reports said.
The International Committee of Red Cross said booby traps and the lack of a clear agreement from troops and rebels were blocking its efforts to evacuate the sick and wounded from Homs.
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Al Makdissi told a news conference the plane had violated Syrian airspace.
“The Turkish warplane violated Syrian airspace, and in turn Syrian air defences fired back and the plane crashed inside Syrian territorial waters.
“What happened is a gross violation of Syrian sovereignty. If the goal of the (Nato) meeting is to calm the situation and promote stability, we wish it success,” Makdissi said.
But “if the goal of the meeting is aggression, we say that Syrian airspace, territory and waters are sacred for the Syrian army, just as Turkish airspace, territory and waters are sacred for the Turkish army,” he added.
Turkey has called Tuesday’s emergency Nato meeting, invoking Article Four of the alliance’s founding treaty.
In Luxembourg, the EU rounded on Syria for downing the Turkish jet while warning of the dangers of military escalation ahead of Nato talks on the incident the following day.
The bloc’s 27 foreign ministers also stepped up the pressure on Assad’s government, agreeing their 16th round of sanctions since the repression of anti-Assad protests began in March 2011.
“As long as the repression continues, the EU will continue imposing sanctions against the government,” said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The new sanctions bring to 129 people and 49 entities the total on an EU blacklist.
Joining his EU counterparts for the first time, France’s new Socialist Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius blasted Damascus for shooting down a Turkish F-4 phantom jet on Friday.
“This plane was not carrying arms and was on a routine flight and was shot down... there was no prior warning, therefore this is completely unacceptable,” Fabius said.
Agencies
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