Turkey has introduced additional safety measures in order to prevent operational mishaps in Syria.
Ankara has started to conduct 24-hour patrols in the Syrian airspace, as well as instructed the country’s air force to perform flights in parallel with the Russian Aerospace Forces, in order to prevent operational mishaps in Syria, the Daily Hürriyet newspaper reported. The measures were taken after the incident with Russian fighter jets, whose airstrikes inadvertently killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded eleven others near al-Bab on February 9.
According to the newspaper, from now, Turkish pilots will fly in parallel with Russian warplanes in the Syrian airspace in order to avoid similar incidents. Daily Hürriyet also noted that many Russian fighter jets had to return to the Hmeymim airbase after the Turkish intervention in the aftermath of the incident, however, this measure was temporary and is no longer being implemented.
In addition, 24-hour patrols over the air space between the Turkish border and al-Bab city were launched in order to monitor the region and prevent similar inadvertent attacks that can be launched by air forces of other countries.
After the mistaken airstrike of the Russian Aerospace Forces on positions of the Turkish Army, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to increase military coordination during the operation in Syria.
“It has been agreed to increase coordination in the military field during operations against terrorists of the ISIS [the Islamic State] and other extremist organizations in Syria,” the Kremlin’s press service reported earlier this months.
After the incident, Putin also held a meeting of the Russian Security Council, during which he discussed with Council’s members the need for careful coordination of operations of the Russian and Turkish armed forces on the territory of Syria.
At the meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported on a telephone conversation between the heads of the Russian and Turkish general staffs. According to the minister, the sides decided to urgently carry out work to improve the mechanism of coordination of joint actions to combat terrorists in Syria.
bomb my soldiers again and i will shoot your plane down.. again!
Russian mistaken airstrike against Turks happened after FSA engaged SAA in fire fight. The best fix is that Erdogan keep his cowardly FSA scum away from SSA front line. I am sure that this message has been made crystal clear.
What right has Turkey to patrol the Skies of the sovereign state of Syria without consent from its people and government? All international laws and conventions have been made void by all external parties involved. It’s unprecedented lawlessness in modern history.
caution, it’s a claim from a turkish newspaper.
NATO has made it pretty clear, in Syrian airspace for last six years, it no longer considers itself subject to International Law.
What happened when The League of Nations collapsed? NATO and US contempt for the International Law is a tantamount to war declaration. “Might is right” means armed conflict. No rules of civil society apply.