Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Syria has maintained tracking of Turkish warplanes.

The Turkish military reported that Syria continued to target Turkish
aircraft along their joint border. On Nov. 24, the Turkish General Staff
said Syrian air defense batteries locked on to a Turkish Air Force F-16
multi-role fighter in the southern province of Hatay.

“The incident occurred while the plane was in Turkish air space over the province of Hatay,” the General Staff said.

In a statement, the military said the Syrian radar lock-on took place on Sept. 24 during a morning patrol by the Turkish Air Force. The General Staff identified the Syrian missile system as the Russian-origin SA-2, a towed battery with an interception range of 35 kilometers.

“Four F-16 jets were performing an air patrolling duty on the Turkish-Syrian border when SA-2 missile systems deployed in Syria harassed one of the F-16 planes by putting it under radar lock for 20 seconds at around 10:07 a.m.,” the General Staff said.

This marked the second report of a Syrian radar lock-on of a Turkish
warplane. The first lock-on — in which an air defense battery prepares to
fire a surface-to-air missile — was reported on Nov. 16 in which Syria
targeted three Turkish F-16s.

Officials said the Syrian military has increasingly challenged the
Turkish military presence along their border. They said the lock-ons, which
interfere with an aircraft’s navigation system, represented the operation of
enhanced Syrian air defense systems by Russian advisers.

Turkey has also been challenged by Russian spy flights along the Black
Sea. On Nov. 25, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ankara, as part of the
Treaty on Open Skies, has agreed to participate in a Russian military flight
over the NATO state over the next four days.

  Hatay Province, Syrian missile systems locked on to Turkish F-16s near border, Treaty on Open Skies, Turkish General Staff