Trigger happy

MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

ARTICLE OPTIONS

A A

Regional tensions in the Middle East were already high, what with Syria’s internal conflict.

Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet Friday raised the stress level higher still.

On Sunday, Turkey announced it had found the aircraft in the Mediterranean at a depth of 4,265 feet. The two pilots are unaccounted for.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the jet was not spying on Syria, but testing radar capabilities. The plane mistakenly edged into Syrian airspace but was warned by Turkish authorities to leave the area immediately. It did, and was shot down a mile inside international airspace, Turkey claims.

Too late.

For its part, Syria said the shooting was “not an attack” and that the Turkish jet had violated its airspace.

Funny how when nations say a lethal action was not an attack, it does not change the results.

Turkey wants to know why Syria did not warn the Turkish plane or scramble its own jets to confront the errant aircraft.

Turkey, long an ally of Syria, has cooled considerably since the Damascus regime began answering its people’s call for reforms with bullets and heavy weaponry.

Turkey is understandably agitated. “No one should dare to test Turkey’s capabilities,” Mr. Davutoglu said Sunday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague went a little further, saying: “This outrageous act underlines how far beyond accepted behavior the Syrian regime has put itself, and I condemn it wholeheartedly. The (Bashar) Assad regime should not make the mistake of believing that it can act with impunity. It will be held to account for its behavior.”

NATO ambassadors will talk it over today. Meanwhile, there were reports that 40 people died in new clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces.