The same reports also indicated that despite the lack of casualties, the bombs caused harm in the vicinity. The reports naturally were alerting. Did a new war erupt between Syria and Israel or will a war break out if Syria reciprocates? Syria sent a very bitter diplomatic message, but it did not resort to reciprocal action. There is no armed conflict for now, but obviously the incident is important in that it showed another armed conflict in the region is likely. For this reason, it is important to address it without ignorance.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem confirmed this during his visit to Turkey. The minister remarked, “We are sure that Turkey will not allow use of its territory against Syria in the case of an aggression,” increasing the already existing doubts. From the moment reports indicated Israeli aircraft bombed Syrian territories, the only question that all had in mind was which route the Israelis followed to attack Syria.
The second question was this: according to a statement by Turkish authorities, an aircraft left a fuel tank in the rural area of Hatay, near the Syrian border. The jets use the external fuel tanks in long-distance travel and drop them after use to increase their maneuvering ability. This means that the aircrafts that left these tanks were traveling a long distance. According to eyewitness reports, the fuel tank fell following the flight of six warplanes which most probably belonged to the Israeli Armed Forces.
According to the Syrian reports, the Israeli aircrafts bombed an area named Tall al-Abyad, which is fairly close to the Turkish border at Urfa. Considering these two facts, we may say that the Israeli warplanes bombed Syrian soil using Turkish air space. The Turkish Foreign Ministry declared that it expected explanation from the relevant authorities; but no other statement was made.
The question that should be asked is this: did the aircraft enter Syrian territories directly from Israeli lands, or after using Turkish air space; or did they depart from any place in Turkey to bomb Tall al-Abyad In this case “any place” will most probably refer to Konya. Under the bilateral agreement between Turkey and Israel, Israeli warplanes have been making training flights using Konya air space.
Obviously there is a serious situation. It seems that Israel and the US are seriously considering new conflicts before ending the occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even though the American public and the opposition Democrats are against a new war, the current administration is determined to strike Iran before leaving the office. Israel pushes the US for such a venture. The first step to be taken before striking Iran is bombing Syria. In the event of such a conflict, the entire region will be deeply influenced by the turmoil -- the current chaos in Iraq will spread all over the region. Furthermore Turkey will have to be involved in the aggression by the US and Israel against Iran and Syria, despite its unwillingness to do so. The use of Turkish soil is a vehement provocation that will drag Turkey into a regional conflict. The authorities do not make any statements, but the public has to go after it.
