Davutoglu accuses Assad of inaction after IAF strike, suggests failure to respond is due to "secret agreement" with Israel.
By JPOST.COM STAFFTurkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu(photo credit: Raheb Homavandi / Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday slammed both Israel for reported strikes in Syria earlier in the week, as well as Syria for its failure to respond to the attacks, Turkish daily The Hurriyet reported."Why didn't [Syrian President Bashar] Assad even throw a pebble when Israeli jets were flying over his palace and playing with the dignity of his country?" The Hurriyet quoted Davutoglu as saying."Why didn't the Syrian Army, which has been attacking its own innocent people for 22 months now from the air with jets and by land with tanks and artillery fire, respond to Israel's operation? Why can't Assad, who gave order to fire SCUD missiles at Aleppo, do anything against Israel?" the foreign minister said to reporters.He further suggested that Assad's inaction was due to "a secret agreement" with Israel and vowed that Turkey would not sit still in the face of an Israel attack on any Muslim country.Time magazine on Friday cited Western intelligence officials as saying that IAF raids overnight Tuesday struck multiple targets in Syria.Syria on Wednesday publicly accused Israel of striking a scientific research center northwest of Damascus, denying reports that the strike had targeted a suspected shipment of anti-aircraft missiles en route to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The description of the military research center that Syria claimed the IAF jets targeted fits the definition of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, which has been labeled a state organization responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons and transferring them to Hezbollah and Hamas.Time quoted a Western intelligence official as saying that the IAF had targeted at least one or two more targets overnight Tuesday and that the US has given Israel a green light to carry out additional strikes.
