Turkey has defended its forced grounding of a Syrian passenger plane, saying the cargo included Russian ammunition and other military equipment bound for Damascus. Syria and Russia have both condemned Turkey’s actions and denied there was anything illegal on board the plane. Turkey says it is examining cargo that it confiscated. Tensions between Syria and Turkey have been rising since mortar fire from across the Syrian border killed five Turkish civilians last week. On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the United States “strongly supports” Turkey’s actions.

Victoria Nuland: “More broadly, we strongly support the government of Turkey’s decision to inspect the plane. And while, you know, we would send you to them for more details on what they found, we would be concerned by any effort to supply military equipment to the Assad regime, because it’s clearly being used by the regime against their own people.”