NATO did not propose any measures against Syria, but Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels that the organization would closely monitor events along Turkey’s southeastern border and would gather to “discuss what else will be done” should another such incident occur.  “It is my clear expectation that the situation won’t continue to escalate,” Rasmussen said. “What we have seen is a completely unacceptable act, and I would expect Syria to take all necessary steps to avoid such events in the future.”  In a strongly worded speech in Ankara, Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the shooting of the plane was deliberate and that henceforth “any military approach to the Turkish border from the Syrian side will be perceived as a threat and will be dealt with accordingly.”  “This incident shows that Syria has become an open threat to Turkey, so we have come to a brand new stage,” he told parliamentarians.  It is clear that Turkey plans no immediate military retaliation for the downing of the jet. But by changing its rules of engagement along the southern border, Ankara is putting Syria on notice and that it can no longer operate there with impunity, potentially curbing Syria’s capacity to hunt down rebels active in the northern province of Idlib.  Smuggling routes between Turkey and Syria are used to secure supplies of weaponry and money by the rebel Free Syrian Army, whose leadership is based in a refugee camp in southern Turkey, one of the many sources of friction between Ankara and Damascus, the Syrian capital.  There have been numerous instances in recent months in which Syrian troops have fired into Turkey to target fleeing refugees, Erdogan said. He said Syrian helicopters have strayed into Turkish territory at least five times in pursuit of rebels, who are staging an uprising against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Turkey and Syria have offered sharply contradictory versions of what happened when the Turkish fighter jet was downed over the eastern Mediterranean on Friday. Turkey says the plane was in international airspace when it was struck by a missile; Syria says it was within a mile of the Syrian coast, in Syrian airspace, when it was targeted by anti-aircraft machine gun fire. The jet’s two pilots have not been found.  Although the Turkish jet did briefly stray into Syrian airspace, “this kind of short-term border violation can never be regarded as a pretext for a hostile attack,” Erdogan said.  The escalating tensions coincided with renewed reports of fighting between rebels and the Syrian security forces in the suburbs of Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 10 people had been killed.
Alliance does not take retaliatory actions; Turkey says it will react militarily if Syria violates border in future.