Turkey’s air force on Sunday downed an unidentified drone on the Syrian border after it breached Turkish air space multiple times, the defence ministry said. The drone detected near the border by the military intruded into Turkish airspace six times before it was finally shot down by F-16 jets. The Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft in the Turkey-Syria border area in 2015, sparking an unprecedented crisis in the two countries’ relations. Ankara has long been pressing for a safe zone between the Turkish border and Syrian areas east of the Euphrates river controlled by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The Turkish military conducted two offensives in northern Syria against the IS and Kurdish militia forces in 2016 and 2018.

Source: The Hindu September 30, 2019 03:44 UTC