Syrian forces shoot down Turkish drone in Saraqib

Syrian forces have intercepted and targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to Turkish military while flying in the skies over a strategic city in the country’s northwestern province of Idlib.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that air defense shot down the drone as it was on a mission over Saraqib, located 27 km north of Ma`arat al-Nu`man city, on Tuesday afternoon.

The development came only hours after Syria confirmed that one of its military aircraft had been targeted by a missile fired by Turkish military forces as it was carrying out a combat mission against positions of terrorist groups in the area.

An unnamed Syrian military source said in a statement to SANA that the warplane was downed at 11:03 a.m. Damascus time (0903 GMT) on Tuesday northwest of Ma'arat al-Nu'man.

Separately, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement that one of its F-16 fighter jets had downed a Syrian military plane in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, identifying the aircraft as a high-performance Aero L-39 Albatros jet trainer developed in Czechoslovakia.

A day earlier, Syrian forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, had managed to liberate Saraqib.

SANA reported that Syrian army soldiers and their allies entered the city on Monday after violent clashes with the extremists, and severely hitting their positions and fortification lines.

Saraqib has a strategic significance as it overlooks the 450-kilometer-long M5 highway.

SS