Iranian UAV attacked Turkish troops in Syria, senior source in Ankara says

An Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle participated in an attack on Turkish troops operating in Syria that left four dead and 10 wounded in late November, a senior Turkish government source told the Turkish press on Wednesday. The attack took place just two days before Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Hakan Fidan, head of the country’s MIT intelligence agency, made a surprise visit to Tehran on November 26.

Putin, Erdogan have a deal on Syria

Consider this to be a critical wounding of NATO. The straw that breaks the camel’s back will be Turkey leaving, which likely is only a matter of time. Putin has successfully and brilliantly driven a wedge between the Western powers. Russia has the most to gain while the United States has the most to lose.

 

After Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, Ankara says the next administration in Syria should be inclusive and secular so that everyone can live with their beliefs. This is as close as Turkey has ever come to accept that Assad has a legitimate role to play.

It is the ‘morning-after’ that needs to be watched when a crucial summit meeting takes place. And, as details become available, it emerges that the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan at St. Petersburg on August 9 has been exceptionally productive.

Neither side showed interest in labeling the qualitatively new level of relationship in hackneyed terms, but then, it doesn’t matter whether one calls it ‘alliance’, ‘quasi-alliance’ or ‘entente’. What matters is that a profoundly meaningful relationship is commencing.

Turkey joins Saudis in showing displeasure over US policy on Syria

Ankara chooses Chinese firm over US, European firms to co-produce long-range air, missiles defense systems.

There is an international failure in dealing with the Syrian crisis, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said on Thursday.

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Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, said in September it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, US and European firms.

US Patriots relocate from Gulf to Jordan. Israel and Turkey pool Syria intelligence

Step by step, day by day, the war inches closer.

Israel and Turkey agreed last week to start pooling their incoming intelligence on the Syrian civil war, debkafile’s intelligence sources report exclusively. Exchanges will take place at the highest level between Mossad Director Tamir Pardo and Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey’s MIT.

The United States will also provide additional security for Syria’s southern neighbor by the relocation of US Patriot missile interceptors from West Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to northern Jordan opposite the Syrian border.

US Patriots were deployed on the Turkish-Syrian border last year.