After Land, Air Escalation, Turkish Naval Forces on High Alert: Syrian Coast

Hassan Tahrawi

Turkey has put its naval taskforce in the Mediterranean on high alert and sent missile-carrying frigates and motor boats to Aksaz, Iskenderun, Mersin, Antalya and other naval bases.

According to the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper, the move came after a higher state of alert was announced in the Air Force.
"Warships armed with HERPOON and SEA SPARROW missiles and able to carry helicopters, moved from "Goulgiu" and "Wardak" to naval bases in the Mediterranean cities of Iskenderun and Mersin," the paper stated.

The daily further mentioned that "the ruling Justice and Development government ordered the army's leadership to take all the necessary military, land, air and sea measures." The Turkish step came to face all possibilities after the escalation with Syria and the approval of the Turkish parliament last week on a memorandum authorizing for Erdogan's government to take military action against Syria.

A few days ago, Turkey scrambled its jet fighters to force a Damascus-bound Syrian passenger plane to land in Ankara. It cited intelligence reports that the plane might be carrying suspicious cargo. But no cargo prohibited by international conventions was found aboard.

In response, Syria retaliated for the incident by shutting its airspace for Turkish planes.

Syria's foreign ministry announced on state TV that that the ban would take effect from midnight on Saturday.

Syria's foreign ministry said the decision to ban Turkish flights in its airspace was in retaliation for a similar move from Ankara.

Source: al-Intiqad, translated and edited by moqawama.org