In reversal, Turkey now says plane Syria shot down was over international waters

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/06/24/153609/in-reversal-turkey-now-says-plane.html

Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2012

By Roy Gutman | McClatchy Newspapers
By Roy Gutman McClatchy Newspapers

ISTANBUL — Turkey on Sunday called for a meeting of its NATO allies after charging that Syria’s shoot-down of a Turkish F4 Phantom jet Friday had occurred over international waters without any warning.

The report was a reversal of Turkey’s statement Saturday that its plane had strayed over Syrian airspace.

Both the United States and Great Britain denounced Syria in response to the new Turkish details, and the North Atlantic Council set a meeting for meeting for Tuesday under Article IV of the NATO treaty, under which any party can call for consultations if it feels its territory or security is threatened. The meeting, however, falls well short of calling for military support under Article V.

A Turkish spokesman said Turkey would use the meeting to brief NATO allies and exchange information. He said Ankara reserves the right to respond to the Syrian action at a time and manner of its choosing. A NATO spokesman said the alliance would consult on the incident and decide if further steps are appropriate.

[leveymg]

1. Time to change the maps. For what it's worth, here's what happened on the old map:

Posted yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=850614&pid=850829

SA-11 has a range of 3-28kms - Turkish jet apparently was well within Syrian territory when hit.

Assuming this report is correctly identifies the type of system, and that it was a land-based missile battery that brought down the TAF RF-4E.

The Mach 3 semi-active homing 9M28M1 missile has a maximum slant range of 28 km and a minimum range of 3 km

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/sa-11.htm

The Syrian state news agency, SANA, reported that according to a Syrian military spokesman, an unidentified aerial object violated the country's airspace and was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery. The aircraft crashed into Syrian territorial waters west of Om al-Tuyour village in Lattakia province, 10 kilometers from the beach.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/327217#ixzz1yjgYtRGQ

NOTE 1: Latakia, the northernmost coastal city in Syria, is about 70kms south from the Turkish border. Om al-Tuyour is approx. midway.



Geography of Syria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Syria
Latakia along with Tartus are Syria's main ports on the Mediterranean sea. ...

NOTE 2: Syria claims a territorial limit of 35 nautical miles (64.8 km; 40.3 mi) off its ...

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/turkey-calls-for-nato-meeting-over-jet-downed-by-syria-235414



Other Syrian air defense missile systems: