BEIRUT // The Turkish prime minister said yesterday a plane intercepted on its way from Moscow was carrying military equipment and ammunition to Syria.
The incident increased already heightened tensions between Turkey and its neighbour after cross-border shelling and gunfire from northern Syria.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said cargo seized by Turkish authorities late on Wednesday was destined for the Syrian military.
Mr Erdogan said Turkey was still examining the equipment and "the necessary will follow".
Syria has denied that the Syrian Air Airbus A320 flying to Damascus was carrying an illicit cargo, and described the Turkish interception as an act of piracy.
Russia earlier demanded an explanation for Turkey's actions, saying they endangered the lives of the Russian passengers on the flight, which was intercepted by military jets over Turkish airspace and forced to land.
"We are concerned this emergency situation put at risk the lives and safety of passengers who included 17 Russian citizens," the foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
The plane was allowed to continue after several hours in Ankara and after cargo was seized. It was carrying about 30 passengers.
Mahmoud Said, Syria's transport minister, was quoted by Lebanon's Al Manar TV station as saying that forcing the plane to land amounted to "air piracy which contradicts civil aviation treaties".
Ghaidaa Abdul Latif, the general manager of the Syrian Civil Aviation Agency, said the use of military jets to force the plane to land was "contrary to regulations and aviation norms".
"This action is contrary to the rules, because the pilot should be first asked to land for inspection," Ms Abdul Latif said. "If he refuses, military jets would then fly to force him to land."
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's minister of foreign affairs, said: "We are determined to control weapons transfers to a regime that carries out such brutal massacres against civilians. It is unacceptable that such a transfer is made using our airspace.
"We received information this plane was carrying cargo of a nature that could not possibly be in compliance with the rules of civil aviation."
Turkish passenger planes have been instructed not to enter Syrian airspace, which authorities deem unsafe.
Turkish forces have increased their presence along the 900-kilometre border with Syria. They have fired back and warned of a harsher response should the attacks continue.
Meanwhile, the joint UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has returned to the region, travelling to Saudi Arabia as part of his efforts to broker an initiative to end the crisis in Syria.
Mr Brahimi was last in the region in mid-September. He is expected to return to Damascus for talks as soon as next week.
The fighting inside Syria continued yesterday, with the opposition Local Coordination Committees reporting at least 133 people killed in violence across the country including areas in and around Damascus, Idlib, Deraa, Homs and Aleppo.
A powerful blast rocked the military justice building in Damascus last night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.State television said "a bomb exploded near the ministry of higher education" and that two people were wounded in the "terrorist attack".
Opposition activists said yesterday that Syrian rebels attacked the Wadi Al Deif army base in the north of the country, using at least one tank, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs.
And Syrian state television reported that an "armed terrorist group" killed eight people in an assault on a bus carrying Syrian workers close to the border with Lebanon yesterday.
zconstantine@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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