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Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem will present Turkey with evidence backing its claim that the Israel Air Force violated Syrian airspace last week, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayyat reported Sunday. (Click here for map) Moallem was to arrive in Ankara on Sunday, for meetings with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. Prior to departing for Turkey, Moallem was to meet with European Union envoys in Damascus. Al-Hayyat also quoted its senior correspondent in Damascus, Ibrahim Hamidi, as saying that Syria is convinced that the Syrian military's warning to Israel "against such operations" was "serious, deterring, and non-escalating." Damascus sources said they believe the alleged operation was a "diplomatic and military experiment" in order to test Syria's reactions and intentions. Israel is maintaining a complete blackout regarding the Syrian charges. Cabinet ministers and senior IDF officers have repeatedly refused to comment on the alleged incident, either on or off the record. They did, however, express their satisfaction with developments and the way decisions had been taken during the crisis with Syria in recent weeks. Reporters who were invited to the cabinet meeting were only allowed to enter the room once all the ministers were already seated, in order to prevent the media from asking the ministers questions. Syria is still undecided on its response to the alleged IAF flyover. The defense establishment does not rule out a Syrian attempt to respond by missile fire. Syria reportedly might also respond later, possibly through terror groups identified with it. The IDF, however, has lowered its state of alert on the Syrian border compared to last week. Israeli defense officials said over the weekend that although the situation on the Syrian border is still of concern, it is unlikely that Syrian President Bashar Assad was headed for war in the immediate future. Meanwhile, the Lebanese newspaper A-Nahar said Sunday that reports were circulating in Damascus according to which Syria had begun a partial call-up of reservists. However, the newspaper emphasized that it was unclear to what extent the reports were true and whether or not the call-up is related to Thursday's incident. Turkey has asked Israel for clarification after finding two fuel tanks on its territory near the Syrian border. The tanks allegedly belong to IAF warplanes, a diplomatic source said Saturday. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper Saturday published photographs of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-15s sent to gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border. 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 dropping munitions over its territory. The Prime Minister's Bureau refused to respond to the reports in the Turkish media....To read more go to:
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