Image: A Turkish F-4 – manufactured by the US and last used in major combat operations in Iraq to destroy air defenses, Syria had every right to fire on this aircraft as it entered Syrian airspace. Even if claims by Turkey are true that it had retreated to a “mile” over international waters when it was destroyed, that would mean it was over international waters for a mere 2 seconds. This means whatever ordnance Syria used was already fired and airborne in Syrian airspace before the aircraft departed.
…. Technicalities The F-4 fighter jet, the newest of which are already around 30 years old, has a top speed of mach 2.2, or 1,600 mph/2,500 kph. That means in one minute it can travel 26 miles – or nearly one mile ever 2 seconds. Any anti-aircraft weapon fired against Turkey’s admittedly “off course” fighter aircraft would have certainly been fired while the aircraft was well within Syrian airspace with the fired ordnance airborne and on course to intercepting the aircraft before the aircraft traveled back over international waters. Turkey’s claim of being “a mile” within international airspace may seem reasonable to the average reader accustomed to traveling at speeds where a mile is relatively far, but in terms of air combat, a mile equates into seconds. Turkey, acutely aware of the immense tensions it itself has cultivated with neighboring Syria, exercised reckless abandon by traveling so closely to Syrian airspace. What readers may also be unaware of is the role US-built F-4′s play in scouting out and neutralizing air defense systems. Designated “wild weasels,” F-4′s had been extensively used in the opening phases of war against Iraq in 1991, flying 2,596 sorties, firing more than 1,000 air-to-ground missiles, and destroying more than 200 targets in a campaign aimed at destroying Iraqi air defenses.
Perhaps hoping the average reader is profoundly ignorant to how speeds, trajectories, and weapons of modern warfare work, the press has attempted to portray the downing of the F-4 as a provocative act carried out entirely over international waters. In reality, Turkey’s jet was fired upon in Syrian airspace, by its own account, as it was supposedly in “international space” for only one or two seconds before finally being struck. Syria claims the entire event took place over Syrian waters – a claim NATO has been unable to refute with anything more substantial than mere rhetoric.
Act of War
Turkey has been admittedly harboring, arming, and supporting terrorists within its borders to destabilize neighboring Syria, according to US policy makers. Turkey has also made multiple threats against Syria, threatening partial invasion and conducting blockades. When a Turkish fighter crossed into Syrian airspace, Syria had every right to believe it was merely the next stage of military escalation implemented by NATO through its member-state Turkey. Compounding Turkey’s provocative violation of Syria’s airspace, at the loss of one of its fighters, it with NATO’s explicit backing, is trying to escalate an already unjustified posture of war and aggression against Syria. The United Nations has been characteristically mute over these brazen violations of world peace as the West pursues openly a campaign to overthrow the government of Syria and replace it with a suitable proxy regime of its own preference.
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