Military plane shot down, crashes near Syrian-Turkish border

Turkey said the Su-24 ignored several warnings that it was nearing, then intruding, into Turkish airspace. Russian Federation has denied this.

“And now we get stabbed in our back and our planes, which are fighting terrorism, are struck”. Our comrades opened fire into the air and they died in the air, ‘ Alpaslan Celik, a deputy commander in a Syrian Turkmen brigade said near the Syrian village of Yamadi as he held what he said was a piece of a pilot’s parachute. “And they violated it knowingly”, the official said. He added that the shots killed one of the pilots, but the fate of the other pilot is still unknown.

Despite harsh words, some analysts believe that Russian Federation and Turkey have reasons not to let the incident escalate.

“Today’s tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations”.

She played down suggestions that the incident might have an impact on Mr Cameron’s effort to secure Parliamentary approval to commit RAF planes to bombing missions against the Islamic State terror group – also known as Isil or Isis – in Syria.

Britain’s United Nations ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, president of the council for November, said no country had yet asked for a meeting but that he was ready to convene one if asked.

He accused Turkey of “stabbing Russian Federation in the back” during a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan and said the pilots had been “fulfilling their duty” “in the context of the fight against terrorism”.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a Russian Su-24 bomber was taking part in the campaign against ISIS in Syria was taken down near the border with Turkey. The creation of a safe zone has been a long-term Turkish goal.

Russian Federation will also beef-up defenses at their Latakia air base in Syria and deploy the guided missile cruiser Moskva off the Syrian coast, Rudskoy vowed. A deputy commander of rebel Turkmen forces in Syria said his men shot both pilots dead as they came down. Even if it was flying much slower, the map does not show the length of incursion into Turkish airspace that Turkey has claimed took place.

“The objective monitoring data shows that the Russian aircraft did not cross the Turkish borderline”, Rudskoy insisted. They were being treated in a military hospital.

Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, claims that the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace.

“Our F-16s went up in the air and shot that plane down. Why?” Already we have seen situations where RAF fighter aircraft have locked on to and been cleared for firing on hostile Russian aircraft in the Middle East. “In addition, those who are calling for a no-fly zone need to realize that shooting down other countries’ fighter jets will be the result and a war between nuclear superpowers a possibility”.