A Turkish F-16 jet has shot down a Syrian MI-17 attack helicopter, saying it made a 2 km incursion into its airspace and ignored warnings.
The Turkish military has released a statement saying that it first identified the Russian-built helicopter 26 nautical miles (48 km) away from its airspace, and radioed the pilots until it was within 5 nautical miles (9 km) of it.
Reacting to the incident, Syria has accused its neighbor of trying to escalate tensions along the border.
"The hasty response from the Turkish side, especially as the aircraft was on its way back and was not charged with any combat missions, is proof of the true intentions of Erdogan's government toward Syria, to increase tensions and escalate the situation on the border between the two countries," Syria's armed forces said in a statement reported by the state news agency SANA.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the helicopter was shot down after it ventured up to 2 km into Turkey near the border town of Yayladagi.
"It was continuously warned by our air defence but as the violation continued, it fell on Syrian soil at 2:25 pm (1125 GMT), having been hit by missiles from our planes," Bulent Arinc said to reporters in Ankara.
The helicopter was shot down by a patrol of two US-made F-16s launched from the Kurecik Air Force Base, on the eastern side of Turkey, which shares a 900 km border with Syria.
Arinc said that the army relaxed its rules of engagement after Syria shot down a Turkish plane in June last year, killing two pilots. Now, any approach from an aircraft operated by the Syrian government is treated as a “military threat”.
Credit To RT
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