Turkey’s armed forces have shot down a Syrian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on Sunday that his country’s armed forces had shot down the Syrian jet after it crossed the border into Turkey.
He congratulated the army for targeting the plane and warned of a heavy response if Syria violates Turkey’s airspace again.
“A Syrian plane violated our airspace. Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard,” he told a rally of his supporters in northwest Turkey.
However, Syrian officials on Sunday rejected Turkey’s claim about the violation of its airspace and said the plane was inside the Syrian airspace when it was downed.
A Syrian army spokesman described the act as “a flagrant aggression”.
“In a flagrant act of aggression that is evidence of Erdogan’s support for terrorist groups, Turkish anti-aircraft defenses shot down a Syrian military aircraft that was chasing terrorist groups inside Syrian territory at Kassab,” the spokesman said.
Syrian officials say the warplane was targeting foreign-backed militants in the coastal province of Latakia, close to the border with Turkey.
Since Friday, heavy clashes have broken out between soldiers of the Syrian army and foreign-backed militants around Kassab, a border crossing with Turkey close to the Mediterranean.
Turkey has been one of the most vocal supporters of the militants fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011.
Over 130,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by Western-backed militants.
Turkey shoots down Syrian jet?
How can a turkey get a weapon large enough to do that? The government needs to ban turkeys before they cause more mischief.
” Western backed militants ” says it all !! For years, the US government has been alienating our allies, antagonizing our enemies and keeping the country on a war footing. How ironic is it that the wealthiest country in the world’s economy is on the verge of total collapse. Also, the last superpower with the best armed and technologically advanced military in the world has not won and cannot win a war. So now, the US government is fortifying itself, moving to disarm law abiding citizens and preparing to wage war on the American people.