Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 234, Ed. 1 Monday, March 24, 2014 Page: 8 of 16
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8A
Monday, March 24, 2014
INTERNATIONAL
Denton Record-Chronicle
Turkish jet downs Syrian warplane near border
Vadim Ghirda/AP file photo
A Turkish fighter jet flies above the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey on Aug. 31, 2013.
By Albert Aji and
Desmond Butler
Associated Press
ISTANBUL - Turkish
fighter jets shot down a Syrian
warplane Sunday after it violat-
ed the country’s airspace, Tur-
key’s prime minister said, in a
move likely to ramp up tensions
between two countries already
deeply at odds over Syria’s civil
war.
A spokesman for Syria’s mil-
itary confirmed the incident,
denouncing it as a “blatant ag-
gression.” The unnamed
spokesman quoted on Syrian
state TV said the plane was hit
while pursuing gunmen near
the border, and that the pilot
safely ejected from the aircraft.
Turkey, a NATO member
that once enjoyed good ties with
Syria, has emerged as one of the
strongest critics of Syrian Presi-
dent Bashar Assad and is now
one of the main backers of the
3-year-old rebellion against
him. Hostilities have flared
along the border on several oc-
casions, although the exchang-
es of fire have generally been
brief and very limited in scope.
Despite protestations from
Syria, there was little indication
either side wanted the confron-
tation to escalate.
In a statement, the Turkish
military said a Syrian MiG-23
entered Turkey’s airspace near
the Hatay border zone after ig-
noring four warnings to turn
back. One of two Turkish F-16s
conducting a patrol in the area
then fired a missile that struck
the Syrian jet, which crashed
1,200 yards inside Syrian terri-
tory near the town of Kassab,
the military said.
Turkish Prime Minister Re-
cep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking
at a rally in northwestern Tur-
key a week ahead of local elec-
tions, congratulated the mili-
tary, and said the strike should
serve as a warning against fur-
ther incursions.
“If you violate our border,
our slap will be hard,” he said.
The Lebanon-based Al-Ma-
yadeen TV, which has a network
of reporters around Syria, re-
ported that the pilot of the
downed warplane landed in the
village of Bahluliya in Latakia
province. It gave no further de-
tails.
Syrian rebels launched an
offensive in the Kassab area of
Latakia near the Turkish border
on Friday. The rugged hills near
the frontier have been engulfed
in heavy fighting since then.
On Sunday, activists and
state media reported clashes
near the town and said both
sides were dispatching rein-
forcements. Syrian officials said
the opposition fighters were
coming from inside Turkey.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights
reported clashes between
troops and rebels led by fighters
from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra
Front near Kassab and a strate-
gic hill known as “Observatory
45.” It added that some of the
shells fired by Syrian troops fell
on the Turkish side of the bor-
der.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said
Sunday that the Turkish gov-
ernment has launched over the
past two days an “unprecedent-
ed and absolutely unjustified
military aggression against the
sovereignty of the Syrian terri-
tories in the Kassab.”
It said that “this aggression
aimed to cover the entry of
armed groups into Syria and
was part of the aggressive pol-
icies of the government of Re-
cept Tayyip Erdogan.”
This is not the first time that
the Turkish military has
downed a Syrian aircraft near
the border.
In September, a Turkish
fighter jet shot down a Syrian
military helicopter after it en-
tered Turkish airspace. The he-
licopter strayed more than a
mile into Turkish airspace, but
crashed inside Syria after being
hit by missiles fired from the jet,
Turkish officials said at the
time.
Turkey changed its rules of
engagement in 2012 after Syria
shot down a Turkish military
plane, declaring that any Syrian
military element approaching
the Turkish border would be
treated as a legitimate target.
Ukraine says top commander held after base stormed
7 think from my personal opinion, the
Russian Federation has enough weapons. ”
— Lt. Anatoly Mozgovoi
By Jim Heintz
Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine — A Ukraini-
an air force commander is being
held after his base in Crimea was
stormed by pro-Russian forces,
and the acting president called
for his release Sunday.
Col. Yuliy Mamchur is the
commander of the Belbek Air
Force base near Sevastopol,
which was taken over Saturday
by forces who sent armored per-
sonnel carriers smashing
through the base’s walls and
fired shots and stun grenades.
One Ukrainian serviceman was
reported wounded in the clash.
It was unclear if the forces,
who didn’t bear insignia, were
Russian military or local pro-
Russia militia.
Ukraine President Olek-
sandr Turchynov, in a statement,
said Mamchur was “abducted”
by the forces. He didn’t specify
where Mamchur is believed to
be held.
However, prominent politi-
cian Vitali Klitschko said Sun-
day that Mamchur is being held
by the Russian military in a jail
in Sevastopol, the Crimean city
that is the base of Russia’s Black
Sea Fleet.
Klitschko was one of the
leaders of the three months of
protests in Ukraine that culmi-
nated in late February with
President Viktor Yanukovych
fleeing the country and interim
authorities taking power before
a May 25 presidential election.
The protests were triggered by
Yanukovych’s decision to reject a
deal for closer ties with the Eu-
ropean Union and turn to Mos-
cow instead.
Yanukovych’s ouster was de-
nounced by Russia and much of
Ukraine’s ethnic Russian popu-
lation as a coup. Soon thereafter,
Russian forces took control of
Crimea and the region held a
referendum to break off from
Ukraine and join Russia.
Russia formally annexed Cri-
mea last week, a move that
Western countries say is illegiti-
mate. The U.S. and the EU have
imposed sanctions on Russia in
the dispute, but Moscow ap-
pears unmoved.
On Sunday, the Russian De-
fense Ministry said the Russian
flag was now flying over 189 mil-
itary facilities in Crimea. It didn’t
specify whether any Ukrainian
military operations there re-
mained under Ukrainian control.
At a Ukrainian marines base
in Feodosia, troops were negoti-
ating with Russian forces on
handing over the base, Lt. Ana-
toly Mozgovoi told The Associ-
ated Press. The marines were
loading 50-caliber machine
guns into armored personnel
carriers to take them to the base
armory, but Mozgovoi said they
hope to hold on to heavy weap-
ons such as rocket-propelled
grenades and cannons.
“I think from my personal
opinion, the Russian Federation
has enough weapons,” he said.
In Donetsk, one of the major
cities in eastern Ukraine, about
5,000 people demonstrated in
favor of holding a referendum
on secession and absorption into
Russia.
Eastern Ukraine is the coun-
try’s industrial heartland and
was Yanukovych’s support base.
Donetsk authorities on Friday
formed a working group to hold
a referendum, but no date for it
has been set.
Russia has deployed thou-
sands of troops in its regions
near the Ukrainian border and
concerns are high that it could
use unrest in the east as a pretext
for crossing the border.
On Sunday, Russian deputy
defense minister Anatoly Anto-
nov was quoted by Russian news
agencies as saying the number of
Russian troops in the area of the
Ukrainian border does not ex-
ceed international treaty limits.
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Cobb, Dawn. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 234, Ed. 1 Monday, March 24, 2014, newspaper, March 24, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1125215/m1/8/?q=%22%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .