Turkey says two IAF fuel tanks found near its border with Syria
By Yoav Stern and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Turkey has asked Israel for clarifications after finding two fuel tanks allegedly belonging to Israel Air Force warplanes on its territory near the Syrian border, a Turkish source said Saturday.
The statement came two days after Damascus said that Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over northern Syria, then dropped munitions onto deserted areas after being shot at by Syria's air defenses. (Click here for map)
Turkey's top-selling Hurriyet newspaper carried photographs on Saturday of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-151s sent to gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border.
Neither Syrian nor Israeli sources are offering details on what took place before dawn on Thursday, and Syria has stopped short of accusing Israel of purposely bombing its territory. An Israeli spokesman has said he could not comment on military operations.
The Hurriyet report released on Saturday cited unnamed "experts" as saying they believed the IAF warplanes had jettisoned extra fuel tanks in order to escape more swiftly after Syria targeted them.
A Western diplomat speaking to reporters in Damascus on Thursday offered a similar explanation of what had occurred.
The jettisoned fuel tanks were discovered late on Thursday in the Turkish provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, hours after Damascus had accused Israel of bombing its territory. Israel has declined to comment on Syria's charge.
"We have asked Israel to explain what happened," the source told reporters.
The source said Turkish authorities were also trying to establish whether IAF warplanes had briefly violated Turkey's airspace.
The incident early Thursday came after a summer of building tensions that have fed worries of a military conflict erupting between Syria and Israel. Damascus accused Israel last month of seeking a pretext for war, and the Israelis are keeping a close watch on Syrian troop movements.
Both sides have insisted they want no conflict along the disputed frontier. But Syria fears it is being squeezed out of a U.S.-brokered Mideast peace conference planned for November and will be left at a disadvantage in the standoff with Israel.
Security official said late last month, however, that the IDF had decided that war with Syria is unlikely and was reducing its troop presence in the Golan Heights after months of tension.
The Israeli officials said recently that Syria's military had also reduced its war readiness, but offered no details as the exact steps taken by the Syrians are classified. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information to the press.
Before and during last summer's war with Hezbollah, Israeli warplanes twice buzzed the residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. Analysts called the flights a warning to Syria to keep out of the fight next door.
In October 2003, Israeli warplanes bombed a Palestinian guerrilla base near Damascus, the first airstrike inside Syria since the 1973 Mideast war.
Syria says the alleged bombing on Thursday caused no casualties or damage.
The IDF said it would not comment on the Syrian reports. "It is not our custom to respond to these kinds of reports," the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement Thursday. "I don't know what you are talking about," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said hours later in response to a question on the issue from Haaretz.
Syria, for its part, has said that Damascus is giving serious consideration to its response to the alleged bombing. "Syria reserves the right to determine the quality, type, and nature of our response to the Israeli attack," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told Al-Jazeera television. "The Syrian leadership is seriously considering its response."
Bilal, however, refused to indicate whether the reaction would be on the military or diplomatic level.
Syria's foreign minister arrives in Ankara for pre-planned talks on Monday with his Turkish counterpart. Turkey will raise the Israeli warplane issue, diplomats say.
Muslim but secular Turkey is one of the few countries in the region to maintain strong commercial and security ties with Israel. The Israeli and Turkish armed forces sometimes hold joint military exercises, most recently in August.
Turkey says two IAF fuel tanks found near its border with Syria
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