Turkish warplanes shot down a drone flying in Turkish airspace near Syria Friday, and a U.S. official revealed the general consensus is that the plan drone was of Russian origin.
The incident comes after Russian jets violated Turkish air space two times earlier this month, with Turkey warning Russia, and everyone else, that it will retaliate if the incursions are repeated, according to The Telegraph.
The Turkish military made good on that promise when they shot down the aircraft after it had continued on its trajectory 1.9 miles within Turkish air space despite three warnings being issued.
#LATEST U.S says it suspects the drone downed by Turkey was a Russian drone, but said nformation still preliminary pic.twitter.com/M3Dsaeuuoz
— CNN Türk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) October 16, 2015
The Russian defence ministry denied any involvement in the incident, claiming that all of its planes in Syria had safely returned to base and all of its drones were operating "as planned."
"All planes of the Russian Air Group in the Syrian Arab Republic have returned to the Hmeimim Airbase after completing their combat missions. Russian unmanned aerial vehicles conducting monitoring and aerial reconnaissance on the territory of Syria, are operating in the routine mode," Defense Ministry official spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists Friday, according to RT.
However, a U.S. official told Reuters that Washington believes the drone was Russian. However, the official admitted that the information was preliminary and declined to give any more information.
This incident highlights the risks NATO member Turkey faces as Syrian, Russian and U.S. aircraft fly combat missions close to its borders. More worrisome for Turkey is that this is the first time since World War II that Russian and NATO planes have flied combat missions in the same airspace, raising concerns that the two could fire on each other with Turkey stuck in the middle.
