Turkey Downs Syria Warplane

The New York Times reports that Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet after it ignored warnings not to cross into Turkish air space.

“‘If you violate my air space, our slap will be a hard one,’ Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a televised campaign speech in northwestern Turkey. Mr. Erdogan praised the Turkish military for its response, as did President Abdullah Gul, according to a report by NTV, a private television channel.

“Two Syrian warplanes entered the air space over southern Turkey on Sunday, but one turned back to Syria after the pilots were warned against entering by the Turkish air force, a statement posted on the military’s website said. When the other Syrian plane did not comply, it was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned Turkey’s actions, saying that Erdogan “should not drag the Turkish army into an adventure.”

Assad Cousin Killed in Latakia

In a blow to President Bashar al-Assad, his cousin Hilal al-Assad, founder of the civilian militia the National Defense Army, was killed while fighting this weekend in the Alawite stronghold of Latakia province.

Al Jazeera reports that Jaish al-Islam, a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Islamic Front, has claimed responsibility for Assad’s killing in a statement published on its website.

“The first rocket was fired around 7:15 pm, followed by another five minutes later. The rockets targeted a house where Hilal was holding a meeting with other members of the National Defense Army,” it said.

“On Sunday, activists and state media reported clashes near the town of Kasab and said both sides were dispatching reinforcements. Syrian officials said the opposition fighters were coming from inside Turkey.” Fighting has been under way in Kasab since Friday, with at least 80 government and rebel fighters killed thus far.

How Assad Created the Shabiha

The Telegraph looks at the formation of Assad’s feared Shabiha militias, civilian groups that fight alongside the Syrian army. Like the National Defense Force, another parallel force supporting the Assad regime in local communities, the shabiha have come to play a prominent role in Syria’s war. The paper speaks to Abdul Salam, once an ally of Rami Makhlouf, a high-ranking cousin of Bashar al-Assad and a senior Shabiha official.

“The account by Mr. Salam intimately details, for the first time, how at the beginning of the uprising in 2011 the Syrian leadership decided to create a paramilitary force – secretly commanded by them – that could attack anti-government protesters. It relates how they appointed leaders for militias across the country; released prisoners from ‘death row’ to join the force; and then provided the financing and the weapons that they needed in order to act,” the paper reports.

“He was part of the original ‘shabiha,’ a term that at the time referred to smugglers and racketeers, mostly operating from the coastal Alawite heartland province of Latakia.”

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