Turkey says Russian warplanes operating in Syria violated Turkish airspace for a second time. The Turkish prime minister has warned that Russian planes could be shot down.

The Russian ambassador, for a second time in as many days, was summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry to receive a diplomatic dressing down. The call was to protest a Russian warplane violating Turkish airspace on Sunday. Turkish fighter jets were scrambled Saturday to intercept a Russian bomber.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has warned Moscow that under Turkey’s rules of engagement, its fighters are allowed to shoot down any warplane operating in Syria that violates Turkish airspace.

Semih Idiz, a political columnist for Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper, says Ankara and Moscow are entering uncharted waters.

“It’s very significant obviously because it’s never really happened before, not here. But given Russia’s latest military engagement in Syria this becomes very significant of course.”

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Monday that incident was the result of bad weather conditions in the area, and that there was no reason to look for conspiracy theories.

‘Solidarity with Turkey’

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday that the violations do not look like an accident.

“I will not speculate on the motives, I would just reiterate or restate that this is a serious violation of Turkish airspace, it should not happen again, and NATO has expressed strong solidarity with Turkey,” Stoltenberg said.  

He added that Russia’s increased military presence in Syria raises also raises concerns because it has attacked not only Islamic State fighters, but also other opposition groups and “many civilians have lost their lives.”

Russian planes have been conducting airstrikes in Syria since last week targeting both Islamic State fighters and what it called “terrorist” groups.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia, has frequently used the term “terrorist” to describe the rebels who have fought against his government for more than four years.

On Monday, a top Russian lawmaker said “a unit of Russian volunteers,” including battle hardened veterans who fought in eastern Ukraine, may join Syrian government troops fighting Islamic State extremists on the ground.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, in comments to Russia’s Interfax-AVN news agency, said Russian involvement on the ground in Syria is “likely.”

​Komoyedov, the head of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, did not suggest a timetable for any Russian involvement, and there was no immediate comment from the government.

The lawmaker’s remarks came in response to unconfirmed media reports that Russian volunteers already have been spotted fighting alongside the Syrian army.

‘Reckless’ and provocative

The U.S. State Department on Monday called the intrusions by Russian jets “reckless” and provocative, and Russian military involvement in Syria “a strategic mistake, in general.”  

The White House also voiced concern, while an unnamed senior U.S. defense official said the intrusions were not accidental. “This was the kind of unprofessional conduct we were hoping to avoid,” the official said.

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, told VOA that, for the moment, he would offer Russia “the benefit of the doubt and assume [the overflights] were a mistake. I don’t know that Russia was trying to provoke anybody. I could be wrong,” he said. “We’ll see if it happens again.”

Syria Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Russian airstrikes in Syria followed months of preparations, according to the official Syrian news agency SANA on Monday.

Syrian rebels

Dozens of Syrian insurgent groups on Monday, however, vowed to attack Russian forces in the wake of Moscow’s air campaign in the country.

“This new reality requires the region’s countries and the allies in specific to hasten in forming a regional alliance to face the Russian-Iranian alliance that occupies Syria,” 41 factions said in a statement released by the Ahrar al-Sham group.

Assad said Sunday the entire Middle East would be destroyed if Russia’s aerial bombardment of militants opposed to his government does not succeed.

VOA’s Dorian Jones contribured to this report from Istanbul.
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