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Turkey sends heavy weapons to Syria border
This screen grab from Turkey's DHA television network shows Turkish military trucks carrying heavy weaponry toward the southern border with Syria, June 28, 2012. / DHA
(AP) ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns and other weapons alongside its border with Syria, state television reported on Thursday, days after the downing of a Turkish military jet by Syrian forces heightened the tensions between the two countries.
A small convoy of military trucks, towing anti-aircraft guns, entered into a military outpost in the border village of Guvecci, which faces a Syrian military outpost across the border and where Syrian forces and rebels clashed in recent months, TRT television footage showed.
Several anti-aircraft guns have also been deployed elsewhere alongside the border. Some trucks were seen carrying self-propelled multiple rocket launchers, TRT footage showed.
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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Tuesday that any Syrian military unit approaching its border will be treated as a direct threat. Turkey's NATO allies have expressed solidarity with Ankara and condemned the Syrian attack but made no mention of any retaliatory action against Syria.
The deployment came before President Abdullah Gul chaired a National Security Council meeting on Thursday, TRT said. The meeting, attended by Cabinet members and the military's top brass, is expected to focus on tensions with Syria.
Turkey and Syria had cultivated close ties before the Syrian revolt began in March 2011, but since then Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of Syria's regime and repeatedly called on Syria's President Bashar Assad to step down as 33,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey.
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Turkey is also hosting civilian opposition groups as well as hundreds of army defectors who are affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and collect food and other supplies to deliver to comrades on smuggling routes.
A Syrian minister said Wednesday his country's forces may have mistaken the Turkish plane they shot down for an Israeli one.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi was quoted as telling Turkish news channel A Haber in a telephone interview Wednesday that his country did "not want a crisis between Turkey and Syria."
Al-Zoebi said Turkish and Israeli fighter jets were mostly U.S.-made, which may have led the Syrian forces to mistake it for an Israeli jet.
Syria insists the Turkish military plane violated its air space on Friday. Turkey says that although the jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down over the Mediterranean by Syria.
The search for two missing pilots was under way in Syrian waters but hopes dimmed for their survival, Turkish authorities said.
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the incident was not fortuitous, the regime in Syria is over, Bashar and his army of shame are aware of this, They also know that they are in the sights of the international community, they want to play for time
this explains their attempt to involve Turkey,
"au revoir"
The criminal Palestinians can't be trusted. They have proven they have no business possesing weapons or explosives!
This entire Syria situation has nothing to do with Israel or the US. This is about the Syrian people wanting new leadership for their country. They are tired of the criminal regime led be Assad.
Israel does not bomb market places and places of worship, the way jihadists do. They, like the US, only target legitemate targets, usually terrorists or those who support them. The Palestinian people are and always have been, a criminal race.
The suggestion that America had something to do with the 911 attacks is dispicable and doesn't deserve a reply!
Again, this chaos in Syria has nothing to do with the US or Israel. Hezbollah is nothing but a terrorist group of jihadists and don't defend anyone or anything but their own murderous ideologies.
I don't know if your twisted perceptions are the result of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, brainwashing, or just plain stupidity, but in any case, you should seek help!!!
Unless al Qaeda has control of the Syrian MILITARY FORCES (?!), it's perfectly reasonable to blame Assad (who DOES control the Syrian military) for the deaths of thousands of Syrians from the USE of that military.
america, Do you honestly believe there are NO Syrian sources providing information about their internal affairs to global news agencies and other organizations in the "privately controlled media"? Do you prefer STATE-controlled media as resources?
BTW, it's spelled LIBYA, which has NOTHING to do with this situation anyway. Libya has much closer Western ties, a predominantly NON-Arab population, and significant oil supplies (Syria has almost NONE) just for starters. If you can't even spell the name of an unrelated country (or differentiate between singular possessive and plural), maybe you should refrain from commenting on international affairs.
I guess the Syrians can now sweat a little harder with that new military hardware staring them in the face. One small mistake now and Assad has himself a real war on his hands. The Russians had better stay out of this conflict if they know what's best for them. Sticking their nose in this incident could end up starting WWIII.