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Turkish warplanes have shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that violated Turkey’s airspace from Syria, the Turkish Ministry of National Defence announced in the afternoon of September 29.
The ministry said in an official statement that the UAV violated Turkey’s airspace six times before being shot down, adding that its nationality could not be immediately determined.
“[The UAV] was downed by two of our F-16s which took off from Incirlik [Air Base],” the ministry’s statement reads.
The UAV reportedly came from the direction of the Turkish-occupied Euphrates Shield (ES) region in the northern part of Syria’s Aleppo.
The Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) are known to be operating near the ES region. However, operations there are supposedly coordinated with Turkey, at least from the Russian side.
The incident will not likely cause any serious escalation, especially that the Turkish Ministry of National Defence is yet to identify the UAV operator.
