Ankara looks into jet downing over Syria

ANKARA, Turkey, July 13 (UPI) -- The Turkish military said Friday a fighter jet downed in June wasn't hit by anti-aircraft fire as the Syrian government suggested.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi was quoted last month by the official Syrian Arab News Agency as saying Syrian forces were able to confirm the June 22 downing of a Turkish fighter jet using land-based, anti-aircraft guns.

But the Turkish military, in a statement published by the country's Hurriyet news agency, said there was "no possibility" the jet was shot down according to the narrative provided by Syrian authorities.

"After the significant pieces (of the jet) on the seabed are recovered and their technical examination is finished, it will be possible to find out how our plane was shot down by Syria," the statement read.

Ankara had said it would cut its electricity supplies to Syria in response to the conflict. Turkey supplies Syria with about 10 percent of its electricity needs.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London would push hard for a Chapter VII resolution against Syria in response to an alleged massacre in the town of Traymseh in Hama, where an estimated 200 people were killed. Such a resolution authorizes the use of military force.

"Everything we have seen of the Syrian regime's behavior over the last 17 months suggests that these (massacre) reports are credible," he said in a statement. "They demand a united response from the international community."