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One of the fuel tanks witnesses reported seeing fall from an IAF jet near the Turkish border with Syria on Thursday. (Channel 2)
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Turkey says two IAF fuel tanks found near its border with Syria
By Yoav Stern and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies

Turkey has asked Israel for clarifications after finding two fuel tanks allegedly belonging to Israel Air Force warplanes on its territory near the Syrian border, a Turkish source said Saturday.

The statement came two days after Damascus said that Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over northern Syria, then dropped munitions onto deserted areas after being shot at by Syria's air defenses. (Click here for map)

Turkey's top-selling Hurriyet newspaper carried photographs on Saturday of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-151s sent to gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border.
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Neither Syrian nor Israeli sources are offering details on what took place before dawn on Thursday, and Syria has stopped short of accusing Israel of purposely bombing its territory. An Israeli spokesman has said he could not comment on military operations.

The Hurriyet report released on Saturday cited unnamed "experts" as saying they believed the IAF warplanes had jettisoned extra fuel tanks in order to escape more swiftly after Syria targeted them.

A Western diplomat speaking to reporters in Damascus on Thursday offered a similar explanation of what had occurred.

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 bombing its territory. Israel has declined to comment on Syria's charge.

"We have asked Israel to explain what happened," the source told reporters.

The source said Turkish authorities were also trying to establish whether IAF warplanes had briefly violated Turkey's airspace.

The incident early Thursday came after a summer of building tensions that have fed worries of a military conflict erupting between Syria and Israel. Damascus accused Israel last month of seeking a pretext for war, and the Israelis are keeping a close watch on Syrian troop movements.

Both sides have insisted they want no conflict along the disputed frontier. But Syria fears it is being squeezed out of a U.S.-brokered Mideast peace conference planned for November and will be left at a disadvantage in the standoff with Israel.

Security official said late last month, however, that the IDF had decided that war with Syria is unlikely and was reducing its troop presence in the Golan Heights after months of tension.

The Israeli officials said recently that Syria's military had also reduced its war readiness, but offered no details as the exact steps taken by the Syrians are classified. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information to the press.

Before and during last summer's war with Hezbollah, Israeli warplanes twice buzzed the residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. Analysts called the flights a warning to Syria to keep out of the fight next door.

In October 2003, Israeli warplanes bombed a Palestinian guerrilla base near Damascus, the first airstrike inside Syria since the 1973 Mideast war.

Syria says the alleged bombing on Thursday caused no casualties or damage.

The IDF said it would not comment on the Syrian reports. "It is not our custom to respond to these kinds of reports," the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement Thursday. "I don't know what you are talking about," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said hours later in response to a question on the issue from Haaretz.

Syria, for its part, has said that Damascus is giving serious consideration to its response to the alleged bombing. "Syria reserves the right to determine the quality, type, and nature of our response to the Israeli attack," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told Al-Jazeera television. "The Syrian leadership is seriously considering its response."

Bilal, however, refused to indicate whether the reaction would be on the military or diplomatic level.

Syria's foreign minister arrives in Ankara for pre-planned talks on Monday with his Turkish counterpart. Turkey will raise the Israeli warplane issue, diplomats say.

Muslim but secular Turkey is one of the few countries in the region to maintain strong commercial and security ties with Israel. The Israeli and Turkish armed forces sometimes hold joint military exercises, most recently in August.



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      1.   Turkey asks for clarification after finding 2 IAF fuel tanks near 19:13  |  simon rabinovich 08/09/07
      2.   Please , take a MAP !! 19:21  |  Ron 08/09/07
      3.   Clearly someone 19:48  |  Mark Lincoln 08/09/07
      4.   #1. Take a map 20:34  |  Omran 08/09/07
      5.   I`m Convinced! 20:37  |  Sean 08/09/07
      6.   Bananas are good, lots of K 20:59  |  Dr Andrew Weil 08/09/07
      7.   Syria angry, Russia angry, Iran angry, Turkey angry... 21:00  |  Dutch Dirk 08/09/07
      8.   1. Ron 21:07  |  KUTW 08/09/07
      9.   Turkish generals will not be amsued. 21:14  |  Dutch Dirk 08/09/07
      10.   Israel is increasingly becoming a joke 21:14  |  Huh? 08/09/07
      11.   Mark Lincoln #2 21:29  |  jo moor 08/09/07
      12.   Mark Lincoln 21:29  |  Lynn 08/09/07
      13.   Arrogance knows no limits or borders 21:29  |  Westwell 08/09/07
      14.   Wining about fuel tanks 21:31  |  Lisen 08/09/07
      15.   #4&6 21:45  |  Moshe 08/09/07
      16.   7 Huh #4 & 6 21:46  |  Shepherd 08/09/07
      17.   Lynn # 12,RE:Mark Lincoln 22:04  |  Westwell 08/09/07
      18.   Amsterdam Dirk, why don`t you worry about your muslims 22:11  |  Lucifer 08/09/07
      19.   #3 Mark Licoln 22:11  |  Mohamed Malleck 08/09/07
      20.   The IDF Junta, which in fact replaced the Israeli government 22:16  |  Insider 08/09/07
      21.   Lynn, oh by the way 22:20  |  Westwell 08/09/07
      22.   Amazing and Miraculous IAF Technology, 22:20  |  Rob Fellichi 08/09/07
      23.   THE CALIPHATE - Moments of joy 22:21  |  indrajaya 08/09/07
      24.   ummm 22:22  |  vik 08/09/07
      25.   Where is the proof that the fuel tanks are IDF`s? 22:23  |  Maven 08/09/07
      26.   How tedious... 22:26  |  Simon Jenkins 08/09/07
      27.   Credibility takes the hit 22:33  |  Bretware 08/09/07
      28.   What`s the big deal? 22:36  |  Murray of Montreal 08/09/07
      29.   Tedious is an under statement 22:40  |  GZLives 08/09/07
      30.   Off track 22:44  |  Bretware 08/09/07
      31.   turkey 22:45  |  wh 08/09/07
      32.   Alleged Israeli intrusion into Syrian Airspace-why it was done 22:45  |  Flyboy 1 08/09/07
      33.   Well known that the u.s.-israel cabal wants to attack Iran. 22:51  |  lakshmi 08/09/07
      34.   To #4 , Omran 23:05  |  Ron 08/09/07
      35.   #20 23:35  |  Moshe 08/09/07
      36.   Indrajaya, #23 23:42  |  Jason, Ph.D. 08/09/07
      37.   In other words, the Israeli planes weren`t flying over Syria 23:56  |  Jake 08/09/07
      38.   banana 23:59  |  DJ 08/09/07
      39.   That`s the idea, Simon Jenkins # 26 00:08  |  Clickfool 09/09/07
      40.   Ron thinks I`m right. 00:42  |  Omran 09/09/07
      41.   Well actually some of us HAVE served in the Air Force 00:55  |  Don Camillo 09/09/07
      42.   Turkey or Israeli? 01:00  |  Omran 09/09/07
      43.   # 30 bretware 01:33  |  Axel 09/09/07
      44.   #25 Where is the proof that the fuel tanks are IDF`s? 02:11  |  Murray of Montreal 09/09/07
      45.   Insider # 20 02:12  |  ChanahS 09/09/07
      46.   fuel tank 02:15  |  Shmuelshachor 09/09/07
      47.   #43 02:20  |  Nightwing 09/09/07
      48.   Turkey says two IAF fuel tanks 02:35  |  Ikje 09/09/07
      49.   Syria best not start anything 02:40  |  SLAVO 09/09/07
      50.   # 2 no mystery to the location of the fuel tanks 03:41  |  eric 09/09/07
      51.   To #50 08:47  |  Ron 09/09/07
      52.   To #40 and # 42 09:29  |  Ron 09/09/07
      53.   Omran 12:14  |  Ron 09/09/07
      54.   New caliphate 12:21  |  BU HANAN 09/09/07
      55.   It was a purposeful intrusion 14:29  |  Sam 09/09/07
      56.   # 32 flyboy 16:15  |  Axel 09/09/07
      57.   stupidity 19:48  |  long 09/09/07
      58.   Over Half Way to Iran 03:57  |  Reader 10/09/07
      59.   There Must Be a Violation of International Law in there Somewhere 04:15  |  Reader 10/09/07
      60.   Flyboy-SR71 05:15  |  Mark T 10/09/07
      61.   What about Russia? 14:29  |  Litvak 10/09/07
      62.   I M IN UR BASES, BOMBING UR STUFF 20:58  |  LanceThruster 29/10/07
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