Syria’s Scud-C ballistic missiles put several big Turkish cities “within range.”
Half of the Turkish squadrons that would fly over Syrian skies may not be able to return home safely.
Turkey simply does not have a long-range anti-missile defense architecture to counter the Syrian (and/or Iranian) missiles.
On June 22, 2012, a Turkish RF-4E military reconnaissance aircraft took off from an air base in eastern Turkey. It flew at low altitude, as most spy planes do, and violated Syrian airspace before it was hit — most likely — by a missile fired from a Syrian- or Russian-operated air defense system.
Two Turkish pilots were killed. Their bodies were later recovered from the Mediterranean Sea with help from a US ship.