Matt Gurney: Did Syria forget that Turkey is in NATO?
Osman Orsal / Reuters
A Turkish F4 fighter jet, like the one shown above, was shot down by Syrian military forces on Friday. Its crew of two are missing.
On Friday, a Turkish F4 fighter jet, apparently on a reconnaissance mission, was engaged by Syrian anti-aircraft defences and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey claims that its jet had briefly and inadvertently crossed into Syrian airspace while heading for open water, and that Syria’s attack occurred several minutes later, after the jet was back in international territory. Syria claims that it fired at an unidentified plane that was flying low and at high speeds over Syrian waters, and grants that while the plane crashed in international waters, it was fired upon while in Syrian airspace.
It all makes little difference for the two Turkish aircrew, who are missing, and one must now assume, dead. But such matters are important when considering how Turkey will respond. It grants that its plane did violate Syrian airspace — at least acknowledging the possibility of Syria’s response being legitimate. But if the Syrians did wait to fire on the plane — if the attack, in other words, was not a reflexive reaction by lower-echelon field commanders — that makes this much more troubling. It would be an intentional Syrian act in international airspace — against a member of NATO.
