Turkey's armed forces shot down a
Syrian plane on Sunday after it
crossed into Turkish air space in a
border region where Syrian rebels
have been battling President Bashar
Assad's forces.
"A Syrian plane violated our
airspace," Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan told an election rally of his
supporters in northwest Turkey.
"Our F-16s took off and hit this
plane. Why? Because if you violate
my airspace, our slap after this will
be hard,"
The rebels have been fighting for
control of the Kasab crossing, the
border region, since Friday, when
they launched an offensive which
Syrian authorities say was backed by
Turkey's military.
Syria said Turkish air defenses shot
down the jet while it was attacking
rebel forces inside Syrian territory,
calling the move a "blatant
aggression".
State television quoted a military
source as saying the pilot managed
to eject from the plane. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights
monitoring group said initial reports
from the area said the plane came
down on the Syrian side of the
border.
Al Manar, the television station of
Assad's Lebanese ally Hezbollah,
said two rockets had been fired from
Turkish territory at the Syrian jet
Sumber : Reuters