@Astrum & zedeeyen:

Whatever !!!!!!


Regarding Syria, here is an interesting comment regarding the Turkish jet that was shot down by Syria, inside of Syrian airspace


Quote Originally Posted by http://www.rt.com/news/assad-turkey-jet-israel-274/

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told a Turkish newspaper he regretted the downing of the Turkish military plane, which escalated tensions between the two countries.

­“We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 per cent ‘I wish we had not shot it down’,” the Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying in an exclusive interview published on Tuesday.


“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,” the Syrian president explained.


“Of course I might have been happy if this had been an Israeli plane,” Assad said.
So basically, for better or worse, what he is saying is that:


  • The plane was well inside Syria's airspace
  • The Syrians believed the plane to be Israeli, since Israel has been flying in the exact same part of Syrian airspace in the past, and since Syria has bad experiences of Israel bombing their nuclear power facilities in the past.
  • They realised afterwards, that the plane was in fact Turkish and immediately realised it had been a huge mistake to shoot down the plane, stating clearly that had they known the plane was Turkish and not Israeli, they would not have shot it, and they wished the whole incident had not happened.


I am strongly in favour of Israel's right to exist and always defend that. I do not necessarily support everything that Israel does in respect to its neighbours such as Syria. While I sympathise with Israel's worries about Syria and nuclear weapons, the coup where Israel annhilated Syria's nuclear facilities is not something I support. I don't care much for Syria's comment that it would have been happy that the plane was downed, had it been Israeli...

However, it's well known that Syria and Israel are old enemies, and I personally think that this explanation makes sense, is true and explains what happened with regards to the downed jet. This is not the lies that some of us remember from the Cold War, or the propaganda hype from the War against terror.

What possessed Turkey, under these tense conditions to do a recognisance trip in Syria's airspace, using the same routes as they are no doubt aware Israel uses, is an interesting question.


  • Where they looking for something special, if so, what?
  • Where they testing the waters to see what Syria would do.... If so, for what purpose?
  • Was it a deliberate provocation intending to lead to this exact outcome.... in that case, what is the agenda?


Does anyone know why Turkey so suddenly turned against Syria, when they previously had good relations, and while Syria is deliberately looking for partners in the Middle East, according to themselves, Iran among others.... in light of the lack of progress in their EU negotiations? Turkey seems to have done an absolute u-turn and now stirring things up, rather than mediate with a neighbour they previously had no particular issue with...