A Syrian military jet has been intercepted near the Syrian-Turkish border after it violated the Turkish airspace, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. Conflicting reports said the jet was shot down from the ground and crashed on the Syrian side.
The Syrian Air Force jet was shot down near the Kasab crossing in
Latakia province, where fierce fighting between Syrian forces and
armed insurgents has been going on for three days, Reuters
reported.
Addressing supporters at a Sunday rally, Erdogan confirmed that
Turkish armed forces had downed the jet.
“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,” Erdogan said, congratulating the
Turkish Air Force on its actions.
The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces issued a statement
saying the downed jet flew 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) into
Turkish airspace despite warnings. According to the statement,
two Syrian MiG-23 fighter jets approached the Turkish border.
When the jets came within 10 nautical miles of the border,
Turkish forces sent out “four warning signals.” One of
the MiGs left, while the other was intercepted by two Turkish
F-16s after breaching the airspace, the General Staff claimed.
The statement noted that the jet went down “1,200 meters to
the south of the border on the Syrian territory in Kasab
region,” adding that Turkish border guards “observed its
fall.”
Earlier reports suggested the jet came down in Syrian territory
while bombing targets in Latakia.
“Turkish air defenses targeted a Syrian fighter bomber as it
struck areas of the northern province of Latakia. The plane
caught fire and crashed in Syrian territory,” the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights was quoted as saying by AFP.
Turkey’s Doğan News Agency claimed that the jet crashed in the
buffer zone between the Syrian region and Turkey’s Hatay
Province. Hatay, formerly Sanjak of Alexandretta, was annexed by
Turkey in 1939. Damascus has not officially relinquished its
rights of sovereignty over the territory, although during
Syrian-Turkish discussions in 2005, Syrian President Bashar
Assad’s government said it did not have such claims.
Recently, the Syrian government has complained to the UN that
Turkey was providing cover to rebels crossing the border from
Turkish territory. The accusations were prompted by fighting at
Kasab, which the insurgents view as a key crossing and a
springboard for their latest offensive in Latakia. On Tuesday,
Al-Qaeda-affiliated, al-Nusra Front, and Islamist groups, Sham
al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham, announced the launch of an attack on
Latakia they dubbed “Anfal.”
Syria reacted to the downing of the jet by calling it blatant
Turkish aggression.
A Syrian Air Force spokesman was quoted as saying, by the SANA
agency, that Turkish forces carried out a “downright
aggressive action” by firing at a jet that was “pursuing
the gangs of terrorists over the Syrian territory and did not
violate the Turkish airspace.”
The pilot of the plane managed to eject on time, the Syrian
official added.
The fighting in Latakia province, in which insurgents have been attempting to seize pro-government Alawite villages and Syrian forces have retaliated with air raids, has left at least 80 people dead on both sides of the conflict since March 21, according to the UK-based Observatory.