Syria fires at 2nd Turkish plane

  Xinhua, June 26, 2012

Syria has fired at a second Turkish plane that was searching for the warplane shot down by Syrian forces last Friday, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters following a cabinet meeting on Monday.

The search and rescue plane, looking for the F-4 Phantom jet, was not brought down, said Arinc.

All options against Syria were on the table, including the right to military retaliation, Arinc said, adding that "Turkey will protect itself within international law."

Damascus would not go "unpunished", but Turkey had "no intention" of going to war, said the deputy PM. "We do not favor making calls for war. We do not intend to have war with anybody."

The Turkish military jet crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last Friday after being shot down by Syria. Syria insisted that the jet violated Syrian airspace, but Turkey said the plane was fired at international airspace, not in the Syrian territorial waters.