US President Barack Obama suggested that some blame lies with Russian Federation after one of its military jets was shot down after it supposedly violated Turkish airspace on Tuesday.
Advertisement
The Russian Marine, whose name also was not released, was aboard one of two Mi-8 helicopters Moscow dispatched to a contested area along the Turkish/Syrian border to find the downed pilots, Rudskoy said in a statement.
Ahmet Davutoglu phoned Mr Cameron and explained that Turkey had taken protective action after the Russian jet was warned “several times” not to violate Turkish air space, said Downing Street.
Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman the 10th Coast Division, said its forces fired at the Russian pilots as they descended.
The pilots of the downed Su-24 ejected, but one was killed by Syrian rebel fire from the ground as he parachuted to Earth, said the Russian general staff, insisting the Russian jet had been in Syrian airspace at the time.
Last month, Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that had also violated Turkey’s airspace.
Over the past five years, Damascus has repeatedly accused Ankara of offering direct and indirect support for the Syrian rebels and jihadist groups fighting in northern Syria against both the Syrian government and Kurdish self-defense groups fighting against the militants.
It is the first time a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation nation has shot down a Russian jet since 1952.
In another development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled his trip to Turkey originally planned on Wednesday.
A Syrian insurgent group, recipient of US Tow missiles, said its fighters hit the helicopter with an anti-tank missile while it was in the air and put out a video showing the helicopter being blown up after one of its fighters struck it with another missile.
The incident comes as the West and Russian Federation both continue military interventions in Syria.
Commenting on the incident in an article for The National Interest magazine, Andrew Bowen, the Director of Middle East Studies at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest, emphasized that while expecting “a broader air war at this point between Russian Federation and Turkey is unrealistic…if Russian Federation and Turkey don’t increase their own direct dialogue over ways to de-conflict the situation and to respect each other’s respective national interests, incidents such as this are likely to occur again, and could escalate this conflict even further”.
“This was a serious incident and we don’t want it to derail progress made in building a common front against Islamic State”, said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
Multiple countries are striking targets around Syria right now – including the U.S., Turkey, France, and Russian Federation. They were among the first to take up arms against Syrian government forces, as Turkey lent its support to rebels seeking to topple Assad. The brigade is searching for the other pilot in the same area he said.
Turkey has vowed to support the Syrian Turkmen and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticized Russian actions in the Turkmen regions, saying there were no Islamic State group fighters in the area. According to the new rules, Turkey said it would consider all “elements” approaching from Syria an enemy threat and would act accordingly. Separately, a Russian diplomat was also summoned for a meeting during which Turkey “conveyed its sensitivities” over border violations. A means of warning Turkey that if it does not behave on the Syrian issue, where it is deeply at odds with Russian Federation and [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, it might pay a high price one day?
Warren declined to get into the rules of engagement of those aircraft.
Advertisement
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
