Shot done their NATO ally drone: US jet shot down Turkish drone northern eat Syria
The Pentagon announced on Thursday, that a US jet shot down an armed Turkish drone that was flying near its forces in Syria.
This is the first time that the United States has announced targeting a Turkish plane, a NATO ally.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident, however they said that the drone didn’t belong to the Turkish Armed Forces, without giving more details.
A Turkish security source said on Thursday that the Turkish National Intelligence Service carried out air strikes in Syria against targets belonging to Kurdish militants after a bomb attack in Ankara a few days ago.
Brigadier general Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, indicated that Turkish drones were detected carrying out air strikes in al Hasakah, north eastern Syria, on Thursday morning, and they were approximately one kilometer away from the US forces.
Later, a Turkish drone got noticeably closer to US forces, was deemed a threat and was shot down.
Ryder explained that there were no indications that Türkiye was deliberately targeting US forces at the national and international levels.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin contacted his Turkish counterpart after the attack, and a Pentagon spokesman described the call as productive.
This incident comes at a sensitive time for US-Turkish relations, as the United States hopes that Türkiye will accept Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Although the United States has never shot down a Turkish plane before, tension has affected relations between the two countries, and previous escalatory incidents have occurred.
In 2019, US forces in northern Syria were subjected to artillery shelling by Turkish forces.