Turkey has shot down a Syrian war jet after it violated Turkish airspace, the country’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. <br /><br />Condemning Ankara’s actions, Damascus described the move as a ‘blatant aggression’, claiming the jet had been attacking rebel forces inside Syrian territory in the city of Kassab at the time of the attack. <br /><br />Turkish TV reported the plane’s pilot was able to eject to safety in time before crashing on Syria’s side of the border. <br />. <br />At a rally in northwest Turkey, Erdogan warned such incursions would not be tolerated:<br />“If they (Syria) continue these violations our response, our slap in their face will be very hard. I would like to congratulate my chief of general staff and our pilots. I want to congratulate our air forces,” Erdogan said.<br /><br />The latest incident follows last September’s downing of a Syrian helicopter after it also entered Turkish territory. <br /><br />Once close allies, Turkey has become one of Syria’s fiercest critics since 2011 the uprising to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began.
