Al Arabiya’s exclusive series on the newly-leaked Syrian security documents continues tomorrow.
As political tensions mount between neighboring Syria and
Turkey, newly-leaked Syrian intelligence documents obtained by Al
Arabiya disclose shocking claims shedding light on the dreadful fate of
two Turkish Air Force pilots.
Contrary to what was publically claimed, the documents reveal that
the pilots survived the crash, but were later executed by the regime of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad!
This disclosure is the first in a series of revelations based on a
number of newly-leaked and highly classified Syrian security documents
which will be aired in a special program produced by Al Arabiya over the
next two weeks; the channel’s English portal –
http://english.alarabiya.net – will be carrying a subtitled version of
the program on daily basis as well as publishing downloadable copies of
the leaked documents.
The documents were obtained with the assistance of members of the
Syrian opposition who refused to elaborate on how they laid hand on the
documents.
Al Arabiya said that it has verified and authenticated hundreds of
these documents and that it is has decided to disclose the ones with
substantial news value and political relevance.
The downed jet
On June 22, a Turkish military jet was shot down by a Syrian missile
in international airspace, Ankara’s official report said; a claim
Damascus has refuted.
Assad’s regime said the country’s defense forces shot down the two-seater F-4 Phantom as it was in the Syrian airspace.
In an interview with Turkish paper Cumhuriyet published in July,
Assad said he wished his forces did not shoot down the jet, claiming
that Damascus did not know the identity of the plane at the time.
The incident set off tensions between the former allies, but Ankara,
which had vowed a harsh response to any border violations by Syria,
limited its reaction to sending military reinforcements to the common
frontiers.
The two pilots on board of the jet were killed.
But both official reports by Syria and Turkey have restrained their
explanation on the causes of the deaths of Air Force Captain Gokhan
Ertan and Air Force Lieutenant Hasan Huseyin Aksoy.
Turkey’s armed forces said it had found the bodies of both pilots on the Mediterranean seabed.
“The bodies (of the two pilots) have been recovered [from] the seabed
and work is underway to bring them to the surface,” the army command
said in a statement released early in July.
The military did not specify where the bodies were found, but there has been no report that the pilots ejected from the plane.
However, after investigating the leaked documents it obtained, Al
Arabiya can now reveal for the first time an alternative narrative of
what might have happened to the two Turkish pilots.
One highly confidential document was sent directly from the
presidential office of President Assad to brigadier Hassan Abdel Rahman
(who Al Arabiya’s sources identify as the chief of the Syrian Special
Operations Unit) states the following:
“Two Turkish pilots were captured by the Syrian Air Force
Intelligence after their jet was shot down in coordination with the
Russian naval base in (the Syrian city of) Tartus.”
The file therefore reveals two critical reports. First, the pilots
were still alive after the plane had crashed. And second, that Russia
held its share of involvement in this secretive mission.
The same document orders the concerned parties to treat both Turkish
pilots according to the protocol of war prisoners, as instructed by the
president.
It also requests that both men be investigated about Turkey’s role in
supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the country’s main armed
opposition group.
The report also suggests the possibility of transferring the pilots
into the neighboring Lebanese territory, leaving them in the custody of
Assad’s ally, Hezbollah.
However, if the Turkish air commanders were not killed upon the crash
of their F-4 Phantom, further leaked documents confirm that their death
was inevitable.
Russian “Guidance”
A subsequently leaked file, also sent from the presidential palace
and addressed to all heads of units of the Syrian foreign intelligence,
reads: “Based on information and guidance from the Russian leadership
comes a need to eliminate the two Turkish pilots detained by the Special
Operations Unit in a natural way and their bodies need to be returned
to the crash site in international waters.”
The document also suggests the Syrian government sends a “menacing”
message to the Turkish government, insinuating Syria’s capability of
mobilizing Kurdistan’s Workers Party (PKK) on the Turkish borders,
notifying Ankara from the danger it might face in case of any hostile
move.
The report insists that the Syrian leadership should hasten and make a
formal apology to the Turkish government for bringing down the plane,
which would embarrass the Turks and win the support of international
public opinion. As such, the Syrian Regime did apologize.
Al Arabiya’s exclusive series on the newly-leaked Syrian security documents continues tomorrow.
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