Turkey says the Syrian plane it intercepted on its way from Moscow to Damascus was carrying carrying weapons bound for the Syrian military — but Russia is crying foul on the move. Ankara forced the plane to land and seized its contents Wednesday after it entered Turkish airspace, over Syria's protests that nothing on the plane was illegal and that the move was an act of piracy. Russia, which has been arming the Syrian regime over the objections of the West, responded by accusing Turkey of endangering the lives of the Russians aboard the plane. Tensions have skyrocketed between Turkey and Syria as Syria's civil war spills beyond its borders, triggering border skirmishes between the neighbors and sending tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing into Turkey. The Turkish government has grown increasingly dire in its warnings to the Syrian regime, and Al Jazeera reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued warnings of his own in an interview published Thursday. "We have no problems with the Turkish people and the Turkish soldiers," he said. "We're having problems along the Turkish border because of the attitude of the Turkish government."
