海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

The Syrian Army today accused Turkey of deliberately trying to escalate tensions after a Turkish fighter jet 鈥渉astily鈥� brought down a Syrian military helicopter along the unstable frontier, highlighting the increasingly uneasy relationship between the two. 聽

Syria says its helicopter crossed into Turkish airspace Monday while monitoring for terrorists in rebel strongholds along the border. Turkey says it repeatedly warned the helicopter, which had traveled more than a mile beyond its territory. The countries share a 560-mile border, and some 500,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Turkish soil, reports Reuters.

鈥淭he hasty response from the Turkish side, especially as the aircraft was on its way back and was not charged with any combat missions, is proof of the true intentions of [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan鈥檚 government toward Syria to increase tensions and escalate the situation on the border between the two countries,鈥� according to a statement by the Syrian Army published by the state news agency, reports the Financial Times.

Turkey has been one of the strongest critics of Bashar al-Assad鈥檚 brutal crackdown. It is openly opposed to Mr. Assad and has supported rebel groups, allowing weapons and supplies to cross the Turkish border. Prime Minister Erdogan has said his country won鈥檛 鈥渢olerate any violation of the border by Syrian forces,鈥� reports The Associated Press.

This isn鈥檛 the first dispute Syria and Turkey have had over airspace. In June 2012 Syria shot down a Turkish aircraft it said violated its airspace, but at the time both sides said they did 鈥渘ot want to escalate an incident that has the potential to explode into a regional conflict,鈥� reported a separate AP story. Syria called it an accident, not an attack. In October that same year, Turkey grounded a Syrian passenger flight, again heightening tensions.

According to Reuters, after the downing of the Turkish jet:

The Turkish government "assumed this would be a very fast process [and] wanted to have some stake," so began a "proactive involvement鈥� in the conflict, Ersin Kalaycioglu, a political science professor at Sabanci University in Istanbul told 海角大神 of the conflict last year. 聽鈥淎ctually, this calculation turned out to be wrong." Prof. Kalaycioglu said. "Now we are into this mess up to our waists, probably, if not our neck.鈥�

Time鈥檚 Piotr Zalewski writes that the current situation along the border is 鈥渇ar from what the Turks had in mind鈥� just four years ago.

He said Turkey 鈥渆xpects no retaliation鈥� from Syria, though it 鈥渋s ready for all possibilities,鈥� according to state-run A-news TV.

This week鈥檚 back and forth between Syria and Turkey coincided with the release of a damning report by the United Nations on chemical weapons use in Syria in August.

The report did not blame Assad鈥檚 government or rebel fighters, but Western powers have 鈥渏umped on evidence in the report 鈥� especially the type of rockets, the composition of the sarin agent, and trajectory of the missiles 鈥� to declare that Assad's government was responsible. Russia, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, disagreed,鈥� according to a separate AP story.

Syria鈥檚 main opposition group called for 鈥渟wift international response,鈥� to the reports findings.