Turkey says it downed a drone on Syrian border
Defense ministry says unidentified drone breached Turkish air space six times, was grounded by a pair of F-16s
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Turkey’s air force on Sunday downed an unidentified drone on the Syrian border after it breached Turkish air space six times, its defense ministry said.
“An unmanned aerial vehicle which violated our air space six times (on Saturday)… was downed by two of our F-16s which took off from Incirlik” air base in southern Turkey, the defense ministry said, sharing pictures of the downed drone.
The ministry said it was not known who the drone belonged to but said it was grounded at 1:24 p.m. local time.
“The wreck of the drone was found at the Cildiroba base” by the Turkish gendarmerie in the Kilis province near the Syrian border, the ministry said.
NEW — Turkey downs a drone that violated Turkish airspace from Syria for 6 times, per Turkish Defense Ministry
Turkey couldn’t decipher the drone’s nationality. Two F-16s hunted it down pic.twitter.com/jJj607bnS8
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) September 29, 2019
The Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft, in the Turkey-Syria border area in 2015, sparking an unprecedented crisis in the two countries’ relations.
That was condemned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “stab in the back” but the two countries later reconciled and worked together on the Syrian crisis although they remain on opposite sides of the conflict.
Turkey backs rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar Assad while Moscow is one of the few remaining allies of the regime in Damascus.
Defense Ministry said it shot down a drone entering from Syria #syria #turkey #aviationsecurity #security https://t.co/W1NT34IwII pic.twitter.com/XRZ8g0iVyB
— Horizon Intelligence (@_hozint) September 29, 2019
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