Turkey curtails Israeli military overflights, making an airstrike on Iran less likely
Turkey’s post-flotilla decision to close its airspace to Israeli military flights seems to me to make it less likely that Israel could carry out an airstrike against Iran. I don’t think they can fly the straight Jordan-Iraq-Iran route, which leaves going through either Saudi or Turkish airspace. As I understand the mechanics of the flight, ...
Turkey's post-flotilla decision to close its airspace to Israeli military flights seems to me to make it less likely that Israel could carry out an airstrike against Iran. I don't think they can fly the straight Jordan-Iraq-Iran route, which leaves going through either Saudi or Turkish airspace. As I understand the mechanics of the flight, the Turkish route would be the easier one -- you take off in Israel, top off on fuel a tanker orbiting over the Mediterranean, and then shoot east just north of the Turkish-Syrian border, then pop back out to refuel again before landing.
Turkey’s post-flotilla decision to close its airspace to Israeli military flights seems to me to make it less likely that Israel could carry out an airstrike against Iran. I don’t think they can fly the straight Jordan-Iraq-Iran route, which leaves going through either Saudi or Turkish airspace. As I understand the mechanics of the flight, the Turkish route would be the easier one — you take off in Israel, top off on fuel a tanker orbiting over the Mediterranean, and then shoot east just north of the Turkish-Syrian border, then pop back out to refuel again before landing.
(HT to Juan Cole)
Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1
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