With the ongoing conflict in Syria showing no sign of abating despite pressure from around the world, the troubled nation now faces a possible two-front war; Turkey along its northern border and U.S. military personnel stationed in Jordan to its south.
Tensions between Turkey and Syria escalated on Oct. 10, when Turkey stopped and searched a Syrian passenger plane suspected of delivering arms to the regime from Moscow.
“We are determined to control weapons transfers to a regime that carries out such brutal massacres against civilians. It is unacceptable that such a transfer is made using our airspace,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Turkish television, adding, “Today, we received information that this plane was carrying cargo of a nature that could not possibly be in compliance with the rules of civil aviation.”
The flight was allowed to leave hours later, but its cargo was confiscated, AP reported.
As of Oct. 11, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that neither Syria nor Russia had any comment on the matter.
On the other hand, U.S. defense officials recently announced that about 150 U.S. military personnel have been stationed in Jordan to “help draft plans to secure Syria’s weapons of mass destruction in the event of the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime and to assist Amman with refugee flows,” the WSJ reported.
Officials dismissed suggestions that the presence U.S. military personnel would lead to more involvement with the 19-month-old conflict on the part of the U.S.
“These guys are not door-kickers or shooters,” a military official was quoted as saying. “They are planners.”
By Park So-eun (spark@heraldcorp.com)
