ESCALATION

Turkey-Syria Tensions Escalate

Over passenger plane in Ankara.

It doesn’t look like Turkey and Syria will mend their fences anytime soon. Turkish fighter jets forced a Syrian passenger plane suspected of carrying “nonmilitary cargo” to land in Ankara Wednesday, and threatened increasingly forceful retaliation if Syria continues its cross-border shelling. Turkey’s state television said two warplanes were dispatched to intercept a Syrian Airbus A320 en route from Moscow to Damascus with 35 passengers and two members in tow—far fewer than the plane’s capacity. Turkish authorities seized military communication devices on board before permitting the plane to continue its journey. Turkey’s foreign minister declined to say what exactly was seized, though he declared the material “troublesome.”