Turkey Intercepts Second Syria-bound Flight Inside a Week

Turkey has intercepted another Syria-bound flight for security concerns, just days after a similar incident took place over Ankara.

The Turkish authorities have searched the aircraft, which was flying from Armenia to the Syrian commercial capital Aleppo but was forced to land in the eastern Turkish eastern city of Erzurum.

It is reported that Turkish ministers were informed of the flight by their counterparts in Armenia, and demanded the plane stop for the check as a condition of flying through Turkish airspace.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan reacted to the ground and tweeted: "The stopover in Turkey of Armenian plane carrying humanitarian aid to Syria was planned. Nothing extraordinary,"

The plane has now been granted permission to resume its journey, having undergone a comprehensive examination which revealed nothing suspicious in the cargo.

Those at the scene say the aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians reeling from their country's 19-month civil war.

Less than a week ago, Ankara intercepted a Syria-bound passenger plane from Moscow alleging that it was carrying defence equipment. Although both Damascus and Moscow rubbished the claims, the relationship between Syria and Turkey was brought to a new low.

Turkey and Syria have banned each other from travelling through their respective air spaces, the latest instalment in an ongoing diplomatic impasse between the two countries.