MEMO, May 13, 2010

According to a leading Turkish newspaper, Turkey has set up anti-aircraft batteries against Hawk planes in a village near the Turkey-Syria border. The news item was reproduced by the Israeli daily 'Maariv' which refrained from mentioning its Turkish source.

The Turkish newspaper asserted that the purpose of deploying the missile batteries was to prevent Israeli aircraft from penetrating Turkish airspace on their way to launching attacks against the Syrian capital of Damascus or Iranian targets.

According to the newspaper, the missile batteries were set up in the village of Kiel, located in the province of Iskandaron near the Syrian border in southern Turkey.

The newspaper quoted a Turkish military source, who preferred to remain anonymous, as saying that the purpose of the missiles were to protect and defend Turkish airspace against all aerial incursions in addition to repulsing American and Israeli penetrations in the event that they should launch attacks against Syria or Iran.