Turkey has asked Israel for clarification after finding two fuel tanks allegedly belonging to Israel Air Force warplans on its territory near the Syrian border, a Turkish source said Saturday.
Damascus has said that Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over northern Syria before dawn Thursday, (Click here for map) then dropped munitions onto deserted areas after being shot at by Syria's air defenses.
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.
It is still unclear exactly what happened, 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 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.
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At the same time, Syria is pulling the U.S. into the picture as well...
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