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What's said going forward bears watching.
According to Middle East analyst Peter Eyre , the aircraft was "at least 10km inside the territorial waters off Syria - that is by no means a slight incursion!!"Eyre added:
"One could even question just how deep this incursion actually was because the 12 nautical mile limit extends from the low water mark on the coast and when you take into account that this aircraft was shot down in a bay it was clearly in gross violation of Syria's sovereign territory and could have actually been almost on the coast at some point during its transit flight."
Given months of raging conflict, Syria's military is on high alert. All border violations are suspect. Aircraft ones demand a response.
NATO's bombs away strategy needs no explanation. Syria's seen Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya ravaged. Clearly it knows it's next.
So far only proxy ground incursions are involved. NATO forces haven't invaded. Large numbers are positioned nearby. Anything ahead is possible. Expect the worst.
Syria has no illusions about resolving the conflict peacefully. Its attempts to do so were spurned. It's on high alert to act.
Failure to confront unauthorized aircraft entering its airspace would be irresponsible and foolish. Turkey would do the same thing. So would Israel and Washington. Apologies wouldn't follow.
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