‘US believes Russian jet was in Syrian airspace when Turkey shot it down’
WASHINGTON – The United States believes that the Russian jet shot down by Turkey on Tuesday was hit inside Syrian airspace after a brief incursion into Turkish airspace, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said that assessment was based on detection of the heat signature of the jet.
President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Tuesday about the need to de-escalate tensions with Russia after Turkey shot down the Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border, the White House said.
Obama expressed “US and NATO support for Turkey’s right to defend its sovereignty,” the White House said in a statement.
“The leaders agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation and pursuing arrangements to ensure that such incidents do not happen again,” the statement said.