Hopefully it won't go further, but this seems more serious than the daily floatsam and jetsam of a volatile region.
Posts: 3060 | Registered: Nov 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Huh. Not knowing the historical context of the animosity between the two, here's a question: What were they doing above Syria "dropping ammunition" in the first place?
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
You know I think since 1969 Syria and Israel have technically ALWAYS been at war. Sorta the opposite of the US and Vietnam.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
They dropped the ammo to maneuver and make a getaway.
Might've just been routine Israeli maneuvers, or maybe they were attempting an attack on a target inside Syria. Or maybe Syria is making the whole thing up, who knows.
Just gives Syria a reason to scream and holler, which is something Israel could do without.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Scare quotes are when you put "quote marks" around "something" even though you aren't quoting anything.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Like Lyrhawn said they dropped the ammo so that they could speed up and get out of there quicker. Personally I think Syria is being a big baby.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Maybe. But I doubt you'd be saying the same thing if Iranian warplanes were flying over Seattle.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I want to know why the head line reads "Syria fires on Israeli Planes" and not "Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space". Flying armed war planes into a countries airspace without permission constitutes an act of war.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: They dropped the ammo to maneuver and make a getaway.
Might've just been routine Israeli maneuvers, or maybe they were attempting an attack on a target inside Syria. Or maybe Syria is making the whole thing up, who knows.
Just gives Syria a reason to scream and holler, which is something Israel could do without.
First off, Its never routine to perform maneuvers over in enemy territory. Second, I'd like to know how common it is to carry live ammo on "maneuvers".
I think there is still reasonable doubt as to whether the incident occurred as reported by Syria. But if it did Syria had every right to defend their air space by firing on the planes and Israel has some serious explaning to do about why there were flying warplanes with live ammo over an enemy country.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Live ammo on maneuvers? airmanfour would probably know better than me, but I don't think it's uncommon at all to have live ammo when performing maneuvers. It depends on where they are, and what the task of the day is.
Second, maybe they just strayed into Syria? But then you have to wonder what the hell Israel was doing in NORTH Syria. Either they violated Syrian airspace, Lebanese, or Turkish, but none of those countries would have willingly given permission.
My shot in the dark guess would be that they were out performing an airstrike and got caught, then hightailed it home, but that's just a shot in the dark.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:I want to know why the head line reads "Syria fires on Israeli Planes" and not "Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space". Flying armed war planes into a countries airspace without permission constitutes an act of war.
The latter headline would simply be trumpeting an enemy's accusation at this point, without even qualifying it as an accusation.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't think the quotes in the article title are "scare quotes." We only have the Syrian authorities' word for it that they actually did fire on Israeli planes. Not putting quotes in the title would imply that the report was corroborated. One possible alternative to using quotes to denote the uncorroborated nature of the report would have been to use a title like "Syria reportedly fires on Israeli planes it claims were in Syrian airspace," but that's kinda cumbersome.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:I want to know why the head line reads "Syria fires on Israeli Planes" and not "Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space". Flying armed war planes into a countries airspace without permission constitutes an act of war.
The latter headline would simply be trumpeting an enemy's accusation at this point, without even qualifying it as an accusation.
It's pretty clear that they were indeed in Syrian airspace, because they left some junk behind in the countryside.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3447011,00.html Friday, September 7, 2007 Israeli Air Force: We don't know why you guys overreacted, we regularly violate Syrian airspace
Majadele: IAF regularly flies over Syria
In first comment by Israeli official on Israel's alleged violation of Syrian airspace Friday, minister says incident not likely to trigger war with Syria Roee Nahmias
Minister Raleb Majadele said Friday that the Israel Air Force enters Syria's airspace on a daily basis, and estimated that the recent plane incident would not prompt a war with Syria, Nazareth-based al-Sinara newspaper reported.
According to the minister, the Israeli aircraft possibly entered the Syrian airspace by mistake.
On Thursday Syrian. Minister Bussaina Shaaban told al-Jazeera that Israeli aircraft "dropped bombs on an empty area while our air defenses were firing heavily at them.
"They intervened in our airspace... which they should not do -- we are a sovereign country and they should not come into airspace," he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday evening chose to keep silent on the unusual incident with Syria reported earlier in the day.
Olmert delivered a speech at a Kadima ceremony ahead of the Jewish New Year, and many of the attendees had expected him to address the Syrian report that an Israeli aircraft violated its airspace on Wednesday night. Instead, the prime minister referred to other security issues.
quote:Originally posted by SoaPiNuReYe: Like Lyrhawn said they dropped the ammo so that they could speed up and get out of there quicker. Personally I think Syria is being a big baby.
That makes no sense at all. If Syrian airplanes entered Israeli airspace, would you catergorize the inevitable Israeli reaction as being a "big baby."?
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
"I want to know why the head line reads 'Syria fires on Israeli Planes' and not 'Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space'. "
Brevity. While 'Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space' is a precondition of 'Syria fires on Israeli Planes' , 'Syria fires on Israeli Planes' is not an automatic consequence of 'Israeli war planes invade Syrian air space'
If Syria had fired on Israeli aircraft outside of Syrian borders, the headline would have been 'Israel Smashes Syrian Air Defenses' .
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, and all those unemployed Palestinians will get jobs when they build the huge underground tunnel to Damasacus.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Doesn't Iran have a defense pact with Syria? I'd be worried that causing any problems in Syria would be risking a crisis.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Given Syria's support for terrorists that commonly lob missiles and mortar rounds into Israel, are you really surprised?
Syria is the waystation for weapons traveling from Iran to Hezbollah. Hezbollah launches Qassam and lately more sophisticated weapons into Israeli settlements. Therefore, Syria gets attacked by Israel.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Well, I have no idea yet actually. But I think it might have something to do with (since it's being discussed now) one of the dozens of acts of war against Israel committed by Syrian forces over the years.
Maybe. I mean, I could be crazy.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
We only have the Syrian authorities' word for it that they actually did fire on Israeli planes. Not putting quotes in the title would imply that the report was corroborated. One possible alternative to using quotes to denote the uncorroborated nature of the report would have been to use a title like "Syria reportedly fires on Israeli planes it claims were in Syrian airspace," but that's kinda cumbersome.
