© Reuters/Mahmoud HassanoA destroyed Russian-made helicopter that belonged to the Syrian Army is seen at the Minnig Military Airport, after it was seized by rebels, August 11, 2013.
A Turkish F-16 jet has shot down a Syrian MI-17 attack helicopter, saying it made a 2 km incursion into its airspace and ignored warnings.
The Turkish military has released a statement saying that it first identified the Russian-built helicopter 26 nautical miles (48 km) away from its airspace, and radioed the pilots until it was within 5 nautical miles (9 km) of it.
Reacting to the incident, Syria has accused its neighbor of trying to escalate tensions along the border.
"The hasty response from the Turkish side, especially as the aircraft was on its way back and was not charged with any combat missions, is proof of the true intentions of Erdogan's government toward Syria, to increase tensions and escalate the situation on the border between the two countries," Syria's armed forces said in a statement reported by the state news agency SANA.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the helicopter was shot down after it ventured up to 2 km into Turkey near the border town of Yayladagi.
"It was continuously warned by our air defence but as the violation continued,
it fell on Syrian soil at 2:25 pm (1125 GMT), having been hit by missiles from our planes," Bulent Arinc said to reporters in Ankara.
The helicopter was shot down by a patrol of two US-made F-16s launched from the Kurecik Air Force Base, on the eastern side of Turkey, which shares a 900 km border with Syria.
Comment: Turkey is doing its best to destroy the diplomatic approach to resolving the crisis. They want war and it is not a coincidence that Davutoglu is in Paris, where the other war mongers have been meeting.
Update: One pilot who parachuted out of the helicopter was captured and executed by the US armed and supported mercenaries as the following Youtube video shows:
Comment: Max Keiser is pretty clear in this episode that the banking elite are psychopaths who do not care if millions die and that they are now ready to wage war on the American public. Greg Palast in the second half makes it clear that it is the banking cabal that chooses the president and not the other way around.