Russian agents were on Syrian jet

Russian passengers on a Syrian plane grounded by Turkey were state agents, a Turkish newspaper reported, as Turkey and Syria imposed tit-for-tat air space bans. The 17 Russian passengers aboard the Syrian Air Airbus A-320 jetliner with 35 passengers were en route to Damascus from Moscow to identify about 300 Russian citizens of Chechen origin believed by Moscow to be fighting with Syrian rebels against the Assad regime, the Yeni Safak daily reported. The predominantly Sunni Muslim Chechen Republic, or Chechnya, is an oil-rich region bordering Georgia whose residents historically resist Russian control. Moscow in recent years has tightened its grip on Chechnya as well as expanded its anti-terrorist operations throughout the region. Most Syrian Muslims fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad are Sunni. Assad's ruling Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Russian agents on the Syrian jet were members of the Federal Security Service, Russia's top domestic spy agency, and did not undergo a security check in Ankara, Turkey's capital, because they were carrying diplomatic passports, the newspaper said. The passenger jet was forced by two Turkish F-16 warplanes to land in Ankara Wednesday after Turkish officials suspected the jet's cargo contained weapons and ammunition. Neither Ankara nor Moscow or Damascus had an immediate comment on the Yeni Safak report. The newspaper, which is widely viewed as close to the Turkish government, also said Turkey seized almost 900 pounds of military equipment, including parts that could be used in missiles. Russia has said the cargo was a legal shipment of radar. It denies any weapons were aboard. Syria has denounced the interception as air piracy. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Saturday the cargo had been sent by a company based in the Russian city of Tula, 120 miles south of Moscow, that produces anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-artillery systems, as well as radar equipment. The company, KBP Tula, was accused by Washington in 2003 of providing weapons and sophisticated military equipment to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in violation of U.N. sanctions. The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch said Sunday Syrian regime forces dropped Russian-made cluster bombs on civilian areas last week in the regime's effort to reverse rebel gains on a strategic highway between Damascus and Aleppo. The rights group said the use of the bomb, which ejects deadly explosive "bomblets," could constitute a war crime. "Syria's disregard for its civilian population is all too evident in its air campaign, which now apparently includes dropping these deadly cluster bombs into populated areas," said Human Rights Watch Arms Director Steve Goose. The group reported in July and August that Syria used cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are outlawed by 76 countries, not including Syria, that signed a 2008 agreement on cluster munitions. The reports came as Turkey and Syria each said they banned the other country's aircraft from its air space. Turkey's ban was communicated to Syria Saturday but was made public Sunday. It applies to civilian aircraft because military aircraft were already de facto banned, the Foreign Ministry said. Syria said it closed its air space to Turkish flights in response to Turkey's ban. Tensions between the countries increased after a Syrian mortar shell landed in Turkey Oct. 3, killing five civilians. Turkey responded with saturation shelling of Syrian military posts with its artillery units. The cross-border shelling has continued intermittently since then.