Syrian gov't bans Turkish civilian flights to pass over Syria

 • The Syrian government Saturday banned Turkish civilian flights to pass over the Syrian territories.

 • The tension between both countries has hit a new high on Wednesday.

 • The Turks alleged that the Syrian flight carried Russian military gears distended for Syria.

Video>> Syria bans Turkish flights to enter Syrian sky

DAMASCUS, Oct.13 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government issued a ban on Saturday, prohibiting Turkish civilian flights to pass over the Syrian territories, the state-run SANA news agency cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The ministry said the ban will go into effect as of midnight Saturday, adding that the move has come in retaliation to a similar move undertaken by Turkey, which prohibited the Syrian civilian flights to pass through Turkey.

In its statement, the ministry said it laments the Turkish " escalatory decision that aims primarily to hurt the interests of the Syrian people."

The tension between both countries has hit a new high on Wednesday when the Turkish government forcefully grounded a Syrian civilian plane, which was en route from Moscow to Damascus, under the pretext that the plane carried "non-civilian cargo."

The Turks alleged that the Syrian flight carried Russian military gears distended for the Syrian Ministry of Defense.

Both Syria and Russia chided the Turkish move and dismissed the statement made by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that Russian military gears were confiscated and that they were Syria-bound.

Furthermore, the Syrian Information Ministry challenged Erdogan on Thursday to display the confiscated gears in public to prove his claims.

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