Turkey rushes F-16 warplanes to Syrian border

Turkey’s military released a statement on Sunday, saying six jets were sent to the area on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

The move came after Syria said a Turkish fighter jet had been downed in Syrian territorial waters west of the village of Om al-Tuyour in the Latakia province, which is located in western Syria, last month.

At a press conference in Damascus on June 24, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said that the warplane had “violated Syrian airspace, and in turn Syrian air defenses fired back and the plane crashed inside Syrian territorial waters.”

Last Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his country would retaliate against Damascus over the incident, saying that he had given orders to the Armed Forces to react to any threat approaching Turkish territory from Syria.

Syria has been the scene of violence by armed groups since March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces.

Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.