Turkey shoots down unidentified drone
Print Edition
TURKISH jets shot down an unidentified drone that flew into its airspace at the border with Syria yesterday, an incident that comes as Syrian troops under Russian air cover are pressing their offensive against rebels in central and northern Syria.
The drone was shot down after it ignored three warnings to leave, the Turkish military said, but didn’t specify how it had relayed the warnings to the drone’s operators.
It said it was not immediately clear which country the aircraft belonged to.
Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said the drone crashed 3 kilometers inside Turkish territory. “We have not been able to establish who the drone belongs to, but we are able to work on it because it fell inside Turkish territory,” he said.
Turkey earlier complained about two incursions by Russian warplanes, which also drew strong condemnation from Turkey’s NATO allies.
The United States, Russia and the Syrian government all operate drones in the region.
Russia denied ownership.
“I state with absolute responsibility that all our drones are either performing tasks or staying at the base,” Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian military’s General Staff said at a meeting with foreign military attaches in Moscow.
The Lebanon-based pro-Syrian Al-Mayadeen TV quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that no Syrian or Russian warplane or drone was shot down over Turkey.
However, the US military believes the drone was Russian, a US official told reporters. He added there were no reports of the Syrian army using that type of drone.
Since 2013, Turkey has shot down a Syrian military jet, a helicopter and an unmanned surveillance drone that strayed into Turkish airspace. The incidents occurred after Ankara changed its rules of engagement following the downing of a Turkish fighter jet by Syria.
Turkey has also reported numerous incidents of harassment of its F-16 jets patrolling the Syrian border, by Syrian fighter planes or Syria-based surface-to-air missile systems locking radar on them.
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