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October 12, 2012

U.S. Voices Support for Turkey's Grounding of Syrian Plane 
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Turkey has defended its forced grounding of a Syrian passenger plane,
saying the cargo included Russian ammunition and other military
equipment bound for Damascus. Syria and Russia have both condemned
Turkey's actions and denied there was anything illegal on board the
plane. Turkey says it is examining cargo that it confiscated. Tensions
between Syria and Turkey have been rising since mortar fire from across
the Syrian border killed five Turkish civilians last week. On Thursday,
U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the United
States "strongly supports" Turkey's actions.

Victoria Nuland: "More broadly, we strongly support the government of
Turkey's decision to inspect the plane. And while, you know, we would
send you to them for more details on what they found, we would be
concerned by any effort to supply military equipment to the Assad
regime, because it's clearly being used by the regime against their own
people."

 

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