Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syrian Border
Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syrian Border
Turkey has shot down a military jet which it says violated its airspace near the Syrian border. Turkish TV reports described the plane as Russian, and video posted by the Haberturk TV station appeared to show the jet coming down in flames. A military official, quoted by Turkey’s Dogan news agency, said the plane was shot down by Turkish F16s, and that the pilot was given prior warning. He did not say which nation the plane was from. Various reports described the plane as coming down in hostile Syrian territory, and the fate of the two pilots on board was unkown
CNN Turk published images purporting to show two pilots parachuting safely to the ground, and reported that two helicopters had been sent from Turkey to retrieve them. While a number of videos were posted to social media appearing to show the plane itself crashing. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the warplane crashed in the Turkomen Mountains region in the coastal province of Latakia.
Last week, Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the bombing of Turkmen villages on the Syrian border. Turkey has traditionally protected the area, whose people are of mixed Syrian and Turkish descent. Mr Abdurrahman said it was not clear from reports on the ground which country the jet was from, or the fate of its crew ( via independent.co.uk ).
