Panetta: US Sends Forces to Jordan

WASHINGTON DC (ABC News) – The United States has sent military troops to the Jordan-Syria border to help build a headquarters in Jordan and bolster that country’s military capabilities in the event that violence escalates along its border with Syria, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.

Speaking at a NATO conference of defense ministers in Brussels, Panetta said the U.S. has been working with Jordan to monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria and also to help Jordan deal with refugees pouring over the border from Syria.

But the revelation of U.S. military personnel so close to the 19-month-old Syrian conflict suggests an escalation in the U.S. military involvement in the conflict, even as Washington pushes back on any suggestion of a direct intervention in Syria. It also follows several days of shelling between Turkey and Syria, an indication that the civil war could spill across Syria’s borders and become a regional conflict.

“We have a group of our forces there working to help build a headquarters there and to insure that we make the relationship between the United States and Jordan a strong one so that we can deal with all the possible consequences of what’s happening in Syria,” Panetta said.

Air Piracy: Turkish Fighter Jets Force Landing Syrian Civilian Plane

Syrian passenger plane flying from Moscow diverted and forced to land in Ankara

(Guardian) – Turkey received intelligence that a Syrian passenger plane which it has forced to land in Ankara was carrying “non-civilian cargo”, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu says.

Speaking live on Turkish television, Davutoglu said Turkey was within its rights under international law to investigate civilian planes suspected to be carrying military materials. F-16 fighters jets were scrambled to force down the plane, which was travelling to Syria from Moscow.

Russia Today – Turkish F16s intercept Syrian civilian flight from Moscow to Damascus (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

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