Turkey beefs up security at Syrian border

12 Oct 2012, 8:57 pm   -   Source: AAP
The US has backed Turkey's grounding of a SyriaAir plane, which officials say was carrying arms. (AAP)

The US has backed Turkey's grounding of a SyriaAir plane, which officials say was carrying arms. (AAP)

Turkey has beefed up security on its border with Syria as the regime and Russia denied a plane intercepted by Ankara was carrying ammunition.

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Turkey will send more military aircraft and tanks to its border with Syria, local media report, as the rift between the two countries keeps growing after Turkish jet fighters forced a Syrian passenger plane to land in Ankara.

The Turkish Air Force will transfer 15 fighter jets to Diyarbakir, near the Syrian border in the south-east of the country, the Hurriyet daily reported on Friday, citing government sources.

It also said an additional 60 tanks were being moved to the region, bringing the total to 250.

The move follows Turkey's interception on Wednesday of a Syrian airliner bound to Damascus from Moscow on suspicion it was carrying ammunition and Russian-made military material.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that "military equipment" was indeed found in the plane's cargo.

The Syrian foreign ministry called the ammunition allegation "categorically untrue and baseless".

In Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported the plane was loaded with 12 boxes containing parts for radars used in the Syrian army's missile defence systems.

Kommersant quoted sources in the arms export industry, who denied accusations by Erdogan that the cargo included ammunition.

The sources told the paper that the cargo needed no special documentation as it posed no risk to the crew of the plane or the aircraft itself.

"This is not a weapon. If a person takes a radio receiver that has been switched off on to the plane then does this pose a threat for the airliner or the passengers?" asked the source.

"No international laws were violated."

The spokesman of Russia's weapons export agency Rosoboronexport Vyacheslav Davidenko denied "there was any cargo belonging to us" on the plane, as Erdogan had implied.

The Syrian Air plane flying from Moscow to Damascus was forced to land at Ankara's Esenboga airport by the Turkish air force. The plane was later allowed to continue to Damascus but Turkey has held on to the suspect cargo.

Kommersant also quoted sources as saying that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) could open an inquiry over how the information that the plane was carrying a sensitive cargo leaked out to the Turkish authorities.

"The Turkish authorities sent out two F-16 fighters to escort the jet so they most likely knew about the cargo that was being carried. They would not have done this if they had not been sure."

Kommersant said the intelligence could have been supplied by the US secret services and it could not be ruled out that the original leak was the fault of the Syrian side.

The incident marked another escalation in tensions between Syria and Turkey, as Syria's 19-month conflict continues to spill across borders in the region.

Last week, Syrian mortar fire killed five Turkish civilians, prompting Turkey to strike targets in Syria. Soon after, the Turkish parliament approved a government request to carry out military operations inside Syria.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese daily Ad Diyar newspaper, which has close links with the Syrian regime, reported that the Syrian army deployed advanced surface-to-air missiles along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Lebanon and Syria share a 330-kilometre border, which has not been officially demarcated. The paper said the measure was taken due to the ongoing tension between Turkey and Syria.

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