We cannot guarantee safety of your planes over Syria: Russia to Turkey
The Russian Defense Ministry has warned Turkey that it cannot 'guarantee the safety' of Turkish flights over Syria.
"In these conditions the leadership of Russia's military contingent (in Syria) cannot guarantee the safety of Turkish flights in Syrian skies," Russia's TASS news agency cited Counter Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev as saying on Sunday.
The statement comes after Syria announced that it had shut its airspace over the country's northwest earlier in the day, warning that it will down any hostile aircraft that violates it.
Syria’s official SANA news agency also reported that the country’s military had downed three Turkish drones on Sunday.
SANA later confirmed that two Syrian aircraft had also been downed by Turkish planes over Syrian territory.
The uptick in aerial incidents come after Turkish forces launched a string of deadly drone attacks against Syrian forces in recent days.
The drone strikes were apparently in response to an attack which killed 34 Turkish soldiers in Idlib, the last major terrorist stronghold in Syria.
The targeted Turkish soldiers were reportedly deployed directly alongside terrorist troops fighting against government forces.
Ankara has been deploying troops in Idlib and has been engaging in direct clashes against Syrian forces in bid to assist terrorist groups halt Damascus' ongoing military operation in the province.
The Syrian army launched the offensive August last year after terrorists failed to honor the Sochi de-escalation zone agreement brokered between Russian and Turkey in September 2018.
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