Turkey says Syrian plane carried arms – Thursday 11 October 2012

This article is more than 11 years old
A Syrian passenger plane which was forced to land sits at Esenboga airport in Ankara. The plane was allowed to leave after a weapons inspection.
A Syrian passenger plane which was forced to land sits at Esenboga airport in Ankara. The plane was allowed to leave after a weapons inspection. Photograph: Andalou Agency/Reuters

Summary

Here's a summary of the latest developments:

Syria-Turkey tensions

Turkey's prime minister says the intercepted Syrian passenger plane was carrying military equipment and ammunition from Russia for the Syrian defence ministry.

The incident has created a diplomatic spat between Moscow and Ankara, as well as further escalating Syrian-Turkish tensions. Russia accused Turkey of endangering the lives of 30 passengers, including 17 Russians. Turkey summoned Russia's ambassador.

 Syria accused Turkey of "air piracy" over the incident and claimed passengers were traumatised. A Syrian Airlines engineer who was on board claimed armed Turkish officials boarded the plane and handcuffed the crew before inspecting packages that contained electrical equipment

Syria

A female army officer has become the first Alawite woman to defect from the Syria army, according to activists. In a video defection statement, Zubaidah al-Miqi, said the conflict has never been about religious sects. 

Syrian security forces have conducted raids on houses in previously calm neighbourhoods of Damascus as they consolidate gains across the city and beyond, according to a witness. Majd Arar told the Guardian: "Everyone here understands that the time for the government offensive has come."

Greece says it is considering a plan to accommodate 20,000 Syrian refugees on the islands of Crete and Rhodes.

A Syrian opposition conference that was due to have taken place in the Qatari capital Doha has now been postponed until November to encourage wider representation at the urging of western governments, diplomats say. Plans are afoot to include a Turkmen bloc and Nasserists as well as representatives from activist groups involved in the uprising inside Syria.

 The foreign supply of weapons to the Free Syrian Army is drying up because of regional anxiety about arms proliferation, US nervousness about funding jihadis ahead of the US presidential election, and divisions between the rebels' main backers Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Martin Chulov and Ian Black report. One well placed source said: "The Qataris are much more proactive than the Saudis. The Saudis are not interested in democracy, they just want to be rid of Bashar. They would be happy with a Yemeni solution that gets rid of the president and leaves the regime intact." Mustafa Alani of the Saudi-financed Gulf Research Centre in Abu Dhabi, added: "The Saudis fear that there will be blowback from Syria like there was from Iraq and Afghanistan. They don't want chaos. They want the Syrian military to take over. The whole region wants that, including the Israelis. Everyone wants an organised structure of army officers who will keep weapons under control and make sure that they are handed in."

 The joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the first stop of his second regional tour, AFP reports. His spokesman said Brahimi will hold wide-ranging talks on the crisis in Syria. He is expected to visit Damascus as part of the tour.

 Britain has sent military personnel to Jordan, according to the Times after it confirmed it had sent troops to the Jordan-Syrian border to as part of a taskforce aimed at stopping the Syrian conflict spreading south. A foreign office spokesman told the Times: "We are working with international partners and countries neighbouring Syria to improve border controls to reduce the risk of weapons proliferating to third parties. We have made clear to Assad, directly and through other parties, that any use or proliferation of CBW [chemical and biological weapons] would be completely unacceptable."

Libya

 Two former heads of US diplomatic security in Libya have told a congressional hearing that requests for additional agents to protect diplomats from the growing threat of armed militias were rejected by the state department ahead of the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in Benghazi. Republicans painted a picture of an incompetent state department failing to heed warnings of a growing terrorist threat or to prepare for a possible attack on the anniversary of 9/11, and then covering up the circumstances of the full scale militia assault that killed Stevens. 

Egypt

 The authority of Egypt's president will be curbed by parliament, according to a partial draft of the new constitution released on Wednesday, the Egypt Independent reports. Kamal Gibril, head of the political systems committee, said the committee felt that a mixed system that divides power between the president and a prime minister who represents the parliamentary majority is best suited to Egypt. 

 A court has acquitted all 25 former senior Egyptian officials accused of sending men on horseback and camels to attack protesters during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Ahram Online reports. Infamous lawyer Mortada Mansour, who allegedly recorded a speech the night before the battle inciting thugs to attack Tahrir Square, was among the accused. Blogger Zeinobia expresses her disgust at the verdict:  "I can not believe it !! I am so angry. Who killed those protesters ??"

More on the 'arms plane'

A BBC report elaborates slightly on the remarks from Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

"Passenger aircraft can't carry ammunition and defence equipment," Mr Erdogan said, adding, "unfortunately there was such equipment on board" ...

Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Mr Erdogan said "equipment and ammunition shipped to the Syrian defence ministry" had been recovered from the plane and was being examined.

He said "the necessary will follow," Associated Press reports, without giving further details.

There is no indication yet of how much military equipment was on board.

Syrian plane carried ammunition, says Turkish PM

A brief flash from AP:

Turkish prime minister says intercepted plane was carrying military gear, ammunition to Syria.

According to Today's Zaman, he also said the munitions were Russian-made and destined for Syria's defence ministry.

Turkey rejects claims passengers were mistreated

Turkey defended its decision to force a Syrian passenger plane to land, saying the aircraft was carrying illicit cargo from Russia.

In a statement the foreign ministry said the pilot of the Syrian Air Airbus A320 had been warned of Turkey's intention to ground it as he approached from the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. It said he was given the chance to turn back, but that he decided to continue his course.

The statement rejected Syrian claims that passengers were mistreated.

It said they were allowed to leave the plane but the majority opted to stay on board. It said there was "no basis" to Russian claims that lives were put at risk.

Jihadists in Deir Ezzor 'are the real fighters'

In Deir Ezzor, the FSA is seen as divided and ineffectual, while jihiadist groups are gaining support, Hajj Abu Bakr, one of the city's residents, told our colleague Mona Mahmood in a conversation via Skype:

Islamist organisations are dominating the ground in Deir Ezzor. They are the real fighters on the ground. The FSA here are only issuing statements. Islamist organisations like Jabhat al-Nusra do their operations and leave; the FSA are deployed in the city but they do nothing.

FSA brigades are stockpiling weapons in the countryside for reasons we don't understand, they do not use them at all in fighting or helping other brigades. These are weapons confiscated in battles or bought by smuggling from Turkey.

The city [Deir Ezzor] is now almost completely destroyed and those who paying the heavy price are women and children.

There are is a lot of artillery based at the mountain in Deir Ezzor, shelling people all the time. None of the FSA brigades do anything to stop it.

We have more than 80 brigades of the FSA [in Deir Ezzor and surrounding area]. Each brigade is made up of 50 to 60 men. There are 18 really active brigades while the others care about stockpiling weapons. There is a big conflict between the defected officers about who should be the commanders.

Jabhat al-Nusra has about 1,000 men but they never deploy in the city like the FSA.

There are big differences between the brigades of the FSA and there is very little coordination between them. People now are in more supportive of the jihadi organisations than the FSA – they proved to be more honest in their jihad.

We have an oil pipeline from al-Busayrah to Deir Ezzor. All the facilities belonging to al-Furat oil company have been looted. Some were looted by the Syrian army before they left, others are looted by civilians and gangsters.

The FSA are attacking the pipeline all the time to stop the regime benefiting from its revenues. The FSA hit the pipeline yesterday at al-Quriyah town.

I myself formed two brigades after six men from Deir Ezzor who had been filming protests in the city were executed by the Syrian army. I felt we needed brigades to protect the protesters but after few months I left them because I wanted to devote myself to the humanitarian situation in the city.

A woman from Deir Ezzor has made a video appeal for help. Standing outside the ruins of a home where she claimed 10 children were killed, she asked "Where are the Arab nations to help us?"

She added: "We need money, we need weapons. Arab leaders should be ashamed of themselves. You have sold us out, you are traitors."

In a recent column for The National, Syrian journalist Hassan Hassan discussed the problem of Deir Ezzor's isolation:

Deir Ezzor is separated from other provinces by desert, making it easily cut off from the rest of the country. The province accounts for about 70∞ of Syria's oil and gas output, and is a main source of agricultural and livestock products. But instead of the province being an asset to the anti-Assad uprising, isolation has become a curse for residents.

Despite the people's plight, and the city's importance – now, and after the regime falls – the situation has not received enough attention. To be sure, most Syrian towns and cities under siege are suffering similarly with little media attention. That is the point. The opposition's political legitimacy, and consequently national stability after the regime's fall, depends on the perception that different cities and regions are being treated equally.

Greece 'considers' hosting Syrian refugees

Greece is planning to accommodate 20,000 Syrian refugees on the islands of Crete and Rhodes, AFP reports citing a statement from the Greek public order ministry.

However, the foreign ministry says the plan is still at the discussion stage.

Currently, the vast majority of refugees are in countries neighbouring Syria – Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

Would a Romney presidency intervene in Syria?

Mitt Romney is going to come under pressure from hawks on the right and the left to intervene in Syria if he is elected, according to a discussion on Bloggingheads TV.

Robert Farley, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, and Daniel Larison of the American Conservative, agreed that Romney’s comments about arming the rebels will invite calls and an expectation for intervention from both sides of the political spectrum in the US.

Summary

Here's a summary of the latest developments:

Syria-Turkey tensions

A Syrian passenger plane from Moscow has arrived in Damascus after being grounded in Ankara over suspicions that it was carrying arms. Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the cargo contained "elements ... that are not legitimate in civilian flights".

The incident has created a diplomatic spat between Moscow and Ankara, as well as further escalating Syrian-Turkish tensions. Russia accused Turkey of endangering the lives of 30 passengers, including 17 Russians. Turkey summoned Russia's ambassador.

 Syria accused Turkey of "air piracy" over the incident and claimed passengers were traumatised. A Syrian Airlines engineer who was on board claimed armed Turkish officials boarded the plane and handcuffed the crew before inspecting packages that contained electrical equipment

Iraq's prime minster, Nouri al-Maliki, has warned Turkey not to draw Nato into the Syrian conflict. Speaking on a visit to Moscow before the plane incident, he said: "Turkey is being presumptuous, you could say, as if it were taking responsibility for solving the Syrian conflict instead of the Syrian people and wants to impose its own solution."

Syria

A female army officer has become the first Alawite woman to defect from the Syria army, according to activists. In a video defection statement, Zubaidah al-Miqi, said the conflict has never been about religious sects. 

The Syria security forces have conducted raids on houses in previously calm neighbourhoods of Damascus as they consolidate gains across the city and beyond, according to a witness. Majd Arar told the Guardian: "Everyone here understands that the time for the government offensive has come."

A Syrian opposition conference that was due to have taken place in the Qatari capital Doha has now been postponed until November to encourage wider representation at the urging of western governments, diplomats say. Plans are afoot to include a Turkmen bloc and Nasserists as well as representatives from activist groups involved in the uprising inside Syria.

 The foreign supply of weapons to the Free Syrian Army is drying up because of regional anxiety about arms proliferation, US nervousness about funding jihadis ahead of the US presidential election, and divisions between the rebels' main backers Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Martin Chulov and Ian Black report. One well placed source said: "The Qataris are much more proactive than the Saudis. The Saudis are not interested in democracy, they just want to be rid of Bashar. They would be happy with a Yemeni solution that gets rid of the president and leaves the regime intact." Mustafa Alani of the Saudi-financed Gulf Research Centre in Abu Dhabi, added: "The Saudis fear that there will be blowback from Syria like there was from Iraq and Afghanistan. They don't want chaos. They want the Syrian military to take over. The whole region wants that, including the Israelis. Everyone wants an organised structure of army officers who will keep weapons under control and make sure that they are handed in."

 Ian Black profiles Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who has taken over the Syria "file" after rumours of inefficiency at the Saudi Arabia intelligence agency.

Bandar's reputation as an inveterate networker and hawk have fuelled anticipation about how he will handle the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring ... He is famously hostile to Iran, the Saudi kingdom's great rival, and is said to advocate links with Israel, seeing it as a lesser threat than the Islamic republic.

 The joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the first stop of his second regional tour, AFP reports. His spokesman said Brahimi will hold wide-ranging talks on the crisis in Syria. He is expected to visit Damascus as part of the tour.

 Britain has sent military personnel to Jordan, according to the Times after it confirmed it had sent troops to the Jordan-Syrian border to as part of a taskforce aimed at stopping the Syrian conflict spreading south. A foreign office spokesman told the Times: "We are working with international partners and countries neighbouring Syria to improve border controls to reduce the risk of weapons proliferating to third parties. We have made clear to Assad, directly and through other parties, that any use or proliferation of CBW [chemical and biological weapons] would be completely unacceptable."

 Two British nationals arrested by counter-terrorism police at Heathrow on Tuesday night are being questioned in connection with the abduction and attempted murder of a Sunday Times photographer in Syria during the summer. Scotland Yard confirmed that one line of police inquiry was a possible connection with the capture and detention of a war photographer, John Cantlie, in August.

Libya

 Two former heads of US diplomatic security in Libya have told a congressional hearing that requests for additional agents to protect diplomats from the growing threat of armed militias were rejected by the state department ahead of the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in Benghazi. Republicans painted a picture of an incompetent state department failing to heed warnings of a growing terrorist threat or to prepare for a possible attack on the anniversary of 9/11, and then covering up the circumstances of the full scale militia assault that killed Stevens. 

Egypt

 The authority of Egypt's president will be curbed by parliament, according to a partial draft of the new constitution released on Wednesday, the Egypt Independent reports. Kamal Gibril, head of the political systems committee, said the committee felt that a mixed system that divides power between the president and a prime minister who represents the parliamentary majority is best suited to Egypt. 

 A court has acquitted all 25 former senior Egyptian officials accused of sending men on horseback and camels to attack protesters during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Ahram Online reports. Infamous lawyer Mortada Mansour, who allegedly recorded a speech the night before the battle inciting thugs to attack Tahrir Square, was among the accused. Blogger Zeinobia expresses her disgust at the verdict:  "I can not believe it !! I am so angry. Who killed those protesters ??"

More diplomatic manoeuvring over grounded Syrian plane

The diplomatic ding-dong continues ...

Now Russia's ambassador in Ankara has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry after a Syrian plane from Moscow was inspected for arms.

The move comes after Russia accused Ankara of endangering Russian lives by forcing the plane to land with Russian citizens on board.

'Eight die" in attack on bus at Lebanese border

Syrian state television is reporting that eight people have been killed today in an attack by "armed terrorists" on a bus transporting Syrian workers at the Lebanon border.

A further eight people are said to have been wounded. The Syrian government uses the term "armed terrorists" when referring to rebel fighters.

More details when we have them.

Russia claims Turkey endangered lives by grounding Syrian plane

The Syrian plane forced to land in Ankara has arrived in Damascus, according to Syria's state news agency as the diplomat shock waves reverberate.

Russia has accused Ankara of endangering Russian lives after the Syrian passenger jet was grounded last night.

Syria said the passengers were in a "very bad psychological state".

One of the passengers, a Syrian aviation official, alleged that Turkish officials pointed guns at crew members and handcuffed passengers.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said: "The lives and safety of the passengers were placed under threat" adding that 17 of its nationals onboard were refused access to Russian diplomatic staff.

MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia)

Lukashevich:Russia believes that by ordering a #Syrian plane to land in Ankara #Turkey put the lives and safety of the passengers in danger

October 11, 2012
MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia)

Lukashevich: Contrary to the bilateral consular convention, #Turkey did not allow Russian diplomats to meet with the 17 Russian passengers

October 11, 2012
MFA Russia (@MFA_Russia)

Lukashevich: Russia insists that #Turkey explains the reasons behind its actions regarding Russian nationals and precludes their repetition

October 11, 2012

Turkey said it had acted within international law. Reuters quoted foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying:

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

Haitham Kasser, an engineer at the Syrian Civil Airlines Agency who was passenger on the grounded flight, claimed that the Turkish officials had pointed guns at crew members and handcuffed passenger.
Haitham Kasser, an engineer at the Syrian civil airline agency who was a passenger on the grounded flight, claimed Turkish officials had pointed guns at crew members and handcuffed passengers. Photograph: EPA

Syrian opposition conference postponed

The Syrian opposition conference that was due to have taken place in the Qatari capital Doha has now been postponed until November to encourage wider representation at the urging of western governments, diplomats say, writes Ian Black.

The conference had been billed as a "major makeover," with new political and civil society groups planning to join the Syrian National Council (SNC) _ the main opposition movement. Plans are afoot to include a Turkmen bloc and Nasserists as well as representatives from activist groups involved in the uprising inside Syria.

Female Alawite officer announces defection

Zubaidah al-Miqi, an officer in the Syrian army, announced her defection in a video posted on YouTube yesterday. She appears to be the first female Alawite to defect from the regime's military.

Our colleague Mona Mahmood translates her saying:

I'm Colonel Zubaida al-Miqi from the directorate of recruitment in the southern region for the Syrian army.

I declare my defection from the ranks of Assad's treacherous brigades ranks, being the first female defected officer from the Alawite sect, I'd like to direct this message.

My people, my sect: the ongoing conflict in Syria now is a conflict between the oppressor and the oppressed and that means the conflict was never between religious sects and minorities but the regime is turning it to a sectarian conflict to contain the revolution and destroy it.

I thank all those who helped me to defect – the FSA, Jund Allah brigade, in coordination with the military council in Damascus.

Commenting on the statement, activist Ammar Abdulhamid notes on his blog that a shorter version of the statement led to allegations that Col Miqi was kidnapped and forced to make the statement. But he says: "This full version, however, seems to indicate that the defection is quite genuine."

Assad forces consolidate gains in Damascus and beyond

The Syria security forces have conducted raids on houses in previously calm neighbourhoods of Damascus as they consolidate gains across the city and beyond, according to a witness.

Majd Arar lives in the Malki district, north west of the city centre. Speaking to the Guardian via Skype, he said:

This area has been considered quiet for a long time, but the government is now conducting search and arrests to further secure the area. It’s considered a backdoor to the Malki neighbourhood - a top priority for securing this place. I witnessed soldiers entering buildings and searching houses. Local market owners spoke about the arrest of young and old people. It is unprecedented for this area, mostly it’s quiet, but maybe the government [is trying to] prevent something happening in future.

(Update: Arar later added: "Shop owners talked about the arrests with anger, and the mood was clearly opposed to what the government was doing.")

It is not clear whether rebels have infiltrated the area, Arar said, but he added “it seems that Damascus is infiltrated by rebels every day”.

This week government troops also stormed the rebel stronghold of Qudssaya - a suburb in the north west of the city, he reported [see map bellow].

I’ve been in contact with two residents over there. They told me their house was raided, everything was stolen like electronics, computers, mobile phones.

The shelling of this area was very intensive. Some residents talked about shelling landing every 20 to 30 seconds, but after all the government was able to enter the place. Most likely the rebels have withdrawn to some other part nearby, because the government was shelling for a long time and after that it entered without clashes.

Arar added:

The government is using heavy force to secure Damascus. The rebels are withdrawing to distant suburbs. But they are still able to infiltrate the city, just as they did in Harasta [on Monday night] when they blasted the Air Force Intelligence.

The blast was very big. It was in the far east [of the city] but even [then] I heard the blast. Many reported that ambulances kept going to the [scene] for over four hours after the blast.

There was a heavy security presence in the city after the bombing and more checkpoints were set up, Arar said.

Asked about government gains in Homs, Arar said:

Everyone here understands that the time for the government offensive has come. For the past two or three months the government was defending its ground. But now its making an offensive, maybe because there’s a shortage of weapons with the rebels.

Even if the government seizes new territory that doesn’t mean the battle has ended, because the government still has to take arms from almost 100,000 people. This is something the government is unable to do.

Most of the areas mentioned by Arar are shown on this map.

The destruction of Homs

The video above shows the extent of destruction in al-Khalidiya district of Homs. An angry man – described in the video as "one of the FSA heroes in Khalidiya" – talks to the camera:

Arab inaction – they, Arabs made us reach this stage. The army got into Khalidiya because of the commanders of the brigades. They are only good at stealing money and claiming that they have brigades.

Abdulrazaq Tlass said that he formed a brigade, while we are only 300 fighters here. Three hundred fighters could not control the situation here. We can't stand in the face of the huge Syrian army, shabiha, Iranians, others coming from Russia, from al-Zahra district where the Alawites are and all the anti-Islam sects are coming here.

I have only two words to say: "May God help us" – that is all.

Our revolution in al-Khalidiya in Homs is a big failure. Every single man here wants to be a commander. None of them is listening. They are behind the fleeing of the honest rebel officers because they do not listen and do not respect the officers.

[Translation by Mona Mahmood]

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that some of the rebel fighters' arms supplies are drying up in the face of rivalries and divisions.

A resident of Homs also told the Guardian that government forces' failure to retake the whole city is due less to the efforts of rebel fighters than to the fact that relentless shelling has made the streets in some areas impassable for tanks.

Embassy security chief shot dead in Yemen

Masked gunmen shot dead a Yemeni man on his way to work at the US embassy in Sana'a today, Reuters reports citing a security source.

The attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Qassem Aqlan – who headed an embassy security team – in the centre of Yemen's capital, the source told Reuters.

"This (assassination) operation has the fingerprints of al-Qaida which carried out similar operations before," said the source who asked not to be named.

New contenders for PM's job in Libya

The search for a new prime minister continues in Libya in the wake of Mustafa Abu Shagur's failure to win approval from congress for his cabinet proposals – and the Libya Herald has come up with two new names.

It says Ali Zidan, the independent member for Jufra, is planning to resign from congress in order to run for prime minister.

He is said be supported by Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance (NFA) and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction Party, although the latter’s support is reported as “lukewarm”.

Zidan’s name was being mentioned as a possible prime minister until, at the beginning of September, Congress passed a rule forbidding its members from standing for the post.

If Zidan stands, he is likely to be challenged by Ibrahim Dabbashi.

Dabbashi is Libya’s deputy ambassador to the UN, he was one of the first diplomats to break with the Gaddafi regime last year and is highly respected, the Libya Herald says.

Prime ministerial contender? Libya's deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi (right) hugs the ambassador on 25 February 2011 after hearing his plea for the security council to impose sanctions against the Gaddafi regime.
Prime ministerial contender? Libya's deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi (r) hugs the ambassador in February last year, after hearing his plea for the security council to impose sanctions against the Gaddafi regime. Photograph: Jason Szenes/EPA

Four factors pushing Turkey and Syria to war

Neither Turkey nor Syria want a war, but both sides don't want to appear to back down and there are four factors pushing them towards a conflict, according to the Atlantic's Robert Wright.

Here's a summary of his four points

  1. Turkey could decide that war is preferable to the alternatives of an influx of more refugees and Kurds using the ongoing civil war to carve out an autonomous region in Syria.
  2. A Turkish-Syrian war could draw the US into the conflict making such a move more attractive to some influential backers of American intervention.
  3. Syria will continue attacking the Turkish border to stop the supply of weapons to rebels. "The Syrian regime is fighting for its life, and along the Turkish-Syrian border lies the lifeline of its enemy" Wright says.
  4. In a way Turkey is already at war with the Syrian regime by supplying weapons to rebels.
Turkey's chief staff Necdet Ozel inspects troops along the border with neighbouring Syria.
Turkey's chief of the general staff, Necdet Ozel, inspects troops along the border with Syria. Photograph: Keystone/USA-Zuma/Rex Features

Syria accuses Turkey of 'air piracy'

The Turkish daily Hurriyet says no weapons were found on the grounded Syrian plane, but an inspection found that communication equipment used for military purposes was discovered.

Russia insists no military equipment was on board. RIA Novosti said 17 Russians were among the 30 passenger on the board the diverted Moscow to Damascus flight.

Meanwhile, Syria's transport minister has accused Turkey of "air piracy" over the incident, Lebanon's al-Manar Television reported.

The channel quoted minister Mahoumd Said as saying that grounding the flight represented "air piracy which contradicts civil aviation treaties", Reuters reports.

Iraq urges Turkey not to draw in Nato

Iraq's prime minster, Nouri al-Maliki, has warned Turkey not to draw Nato into the Syrian conflict.

Speaking on a visit to Moscow he said:

Turkey is being presumptuous, you could say, as if it were taking responsibility for solving the Syrian conflict instead of the Syrian people and wants to impose its own solution. For this reason the international community needs to stop Turkey from intervening.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin and Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki met at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia on Wednesday.
Russia's president Vladimir Putin and Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, on W. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/EPA

Summary

Welcome to Middle East Live.

Escalating tension between Syria and Turkey continues to dominate the agenda. Here's a roundup of the latest developments:

Syria-Turkey tensions

Turkey has allowed a Syrian passenger plane to resume its course after it was grounded on suspicion of carrying weapons. On Wednesday, military jets escorted the Damascus-bound Airbus A-320, carrying about 30 passengers, into the airport in Ankara hours after Turkey's chief of staff said his troops would respond with greater force if bombardments from Syria kept hitting Turkish territory, Turkish state-run television 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," Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

No Russian weapons were on board the plane a source in a Russian arms exporting agency told Interfax, Reuters reports. "Neither weapons nor any kind of systems or parts for military equipment were on board or could have been on board," the news agency quoted a source. 

Syria

The foreign supply of weapons to the Free Syrian Army is drying up because of regional anxiety about arms proliferation, US nervousness about funding jihadis ahead of the US presidential election, and divisions between the rebels' main backers Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Martin Chulov and Ian Black report. One well placed source said: "The Qataris are much more proactive than the Saudis. The Saudis are not interested in democracy, they just want to be rid of Bashar. They would be happy with a Yemeni solution that gets rid of the president and leaves the regime intact." Mustafa Alani of the Saudi-financed Gulf Research Centre in Abu Dhabi, added: "The Saudis fear that there will be blowback from Syria like there was from Iraq and Afghanistan. They don't want chaos. They want the Syrian military to take over. The whole region wants that, including the Israelis. Everyone wants an organised structure of army officers who will keep weapons under control and make sure that they are handed in."

Ian Black profiles Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who has taken over the Syria "file" after rumours of inefficiency at the Saudi Arabia intelligence agency.

Bandar's reputation as an inveterate networker and hawk have fuelled anticipation about how he will handle the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring ... He is famously hostile to Iran, the Saudi kingdom's great rival, and is said to advocate links with Israel, seeing it as a lesser threat than the Islamic republic.

The joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on the first stop of his second regional tour, AFP reports. His spokesman said Brahimi will hold wide-ranging talks on the crisis in Syria. He is expected to visit Damascus as part of the tour.

Britain has sent military personnel to Jordan, according to the Times after it confirmed it had sent troops to the Jordan-Syrian border to as part of a taskforce aimed at stopping the Syrian conflict spreading south. A foreign office spokesman told the Times: "We are working with international partners and countries neighbouring Syria to improve border controls to reduce the risk of weapons proliferating to third parties. We have made clear to Assad, directly and through other parties, that any use or proliferation of CBW [chemical and biological weapons] would be completely unacceptable."

Two British nationals arrested by counter-terrorism police at Heathrow on Tuesday night are being questioned in connection with the abduction and attempted murder of a Sunday Times photographer in Syria during the summer. Scotland Yard confirmed that one line of police inquiry was a possible connection with the capture and detention of a war photographer, John Cantlie, in August.

Libya

Two former heads of US diplomatic security in Libya have told a congressional hearing that requests for additional agents to protect diplomats from the growing threat of armed militias were rejected by the state department ahead of the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in Benghazi. Republicans painted a picture of an incompetent state department failing to heed warnings of a growing terrorist threat or to prepare for a possible attack on the anniversary of 9/11, and then covering up the circumstances of the full scale militia assault that killed Stevens. 

Egypt

The authority of Egypt's president will be curbed by parliament, according to a partial draft of the new constitution released on Wednesday, the Egypt Independent reports. Kamal Gibril, head of the political systems committee, said the committee felt that a mixed system that divides power between the president and a prime minister who represents the parliamentary majority is best suited to Egypt. 

 A court has acquitted all 25 former senior Egyptian officials accused of sending men on horseback and camels to attack protesters during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Ahram Online reports. Infamous lawyer Mortada Mansour, who allegedly recorded a speech the night before the battle inciting thugs to attack Tahrir Square, was among the accused. Blogger Zeinobia expresses her disgust at the verdict:  "I can not believe it !! I am so angry. Who killed those protesters ??"