Turkey helped Israel to attack Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on the Syrian targets allegedly attacked by the Air Force last week without the Turkish government's authorization, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda reported Thursday.



Al-Jareeda quoted several sources as saying that Israel and senior Turkish military personnel coordinated Israel's invasion of Turkish airspace during the operation to send a message to the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP. Senior military officials in Turkey, most of whom are secular, oppose the Islamist party's platform.



Turkey has asked Israel for clarification after finding two fuel tanks on its territory near the Syrian border.



The tanks allegedly belong to IAF warplanes, a diplomatic source said Saturday. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper Saturday published photographs of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-15s sent to gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border.



The London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi refused to take a call from his Turkish counterpart, who asked for clarifications on the attack.



Sources told Al-Jareeda that Turkish intelligence did not coordinate the move with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Coordination of the [release of information] occurred far away from the political echelon," it said.