Turkish F-16 shoots down Russian fighter jet near Syria border

Fox News ^ | November 24, 2015 | FoxNews.com

[Timber Rattler]

Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane near Turkey's border with Syria Tuesday in an incident that raises the possibility of conflict between Moscow and NATO.

A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the Russian Sukhoi-24 was downed by an air-to-air missile north of the Syrian port city of Latakia. The official added that the Russian jet was warned three times to depart Turkish airspace.

The official told Fox News that the Su-24's two pilots parachuted safely and were last seen attempting to evade capture. Two Russian helicopters were airborne to attempt a rescue mission.

[Timber Rattler]

Fox News reporting that one of the Russian airmen is dead and in "rebel" hands, whoever that is.

[Dallas59]

NATO is defensive. I believe that if a member starts something, there is no obligation to defend it.

[Reno89519]

Not good, not unexpected. If Obama was a leader he would have helped make sure that Russian and French operations against our common enemy, Islam, was coordinated with our allies, such as and very importantly, Turkey. Unless that jet was attacking targets in Turkey, they should have withheld fire. Shooting and “ally” is a bit bad. (And that is armchair thoughts without hearing more details.)

[Vermont Lt]

They were warned two weeks ago when that drone went over the line.

I think Turkey is a crappy ally, but it appears they were in the right on this one.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that our administration actually backed Turkey firing on Russian jets.

[Reno89519]

And Russians captured by Turkish troops IN SYRIA?! That is NOT good. What the H31l is Turkey doing shooting or taking hostile action against Russia IN SYRIA. Where are we in this mix? Do we stand by as Russia retaliates against Turkey next? Our NATO ally.

[Dallas59]

"For things to reach that scale, you need more than a single aircraft shot down, because no country in their right mind will declare war over this incident. So NATO countries (obviously other than Turkey) will just put up a statement, saying "please tread carefully" and that's it. What happens between Russia and Turkey now? Probably a political crisis, nothing more. Russia has already invaded Turkish airspace numerous times in recent history and Turkey repeatedly warned them. If you don't carry out your promises, you will get bullied by stronger nations all the time, that was what's happening. So Turkish military decided to shoot it down this time. And to be honest, Russian military was expecting this at some point. A single aircraft doesn't worth that much in the grand scheme of things, Russia won't make a big deal of this."

[Kozak]

Defending your airspace counts

[Timber Rattler]

Except they have a dead airman now.

[jimbo123]

The Russian pilots are dead. They were shot and killed while descending in their parachutes.

[bert]

The downing of a Russian plane in Turkish act is a defensive act

[pepsionice]

Of the ten stupid things Turkey could have done and really worsen the situation...that was number one or two on the list.

You should expect a Turkish plane shoot down within the next two days....maybe even a US fighter.

Russia will reinforce their Air Defense and bring a couple of ships up against the Turkish coast. Really stupid move on Turkey’s part.

[WKUHilltopper]

Turkey...you’re on your own—as far as I’m concerned.

[Neoliberalnot]

Yeah, and Turkey, a dominant Muslim country, uses one of our more advanced aircraft to shoot down a Russian. Bo has stated he is going to spend his remaining time taking rifles and handguns from US. Citizens.

[AlaskaErik]

I’m not sure why Turkey is part of NATO. They seem to be more aligned with ISIS.

[TonyM]

Does Turkey have an open border policy like a the U.S. now does?

[M Kehoe]

Not good. Erdogan would have had to give the order. Not good.

5.56mm

[9YearLurker]

I would suggest that Obama does not consider Islam either outright or in its juhadist form to be an enemy at all.

[Wpin]

“I think Turkey is a crappy ally, but it appears they were in the right on this one.”

Being right is not antidote for absolute stupidity...