Russian Search Helicopter Downed Near Syrian Border By US-Made Anti-Tank Missile, Rebels Claim
The news is coming fast and furious out of Syria on Tuesday where, earlier today, Turkey decided to shoot down a Russian Su-24 which Ankara says violated its airspace while conducting operations near the border.
Russia says the fighter jet was in Syrian airspace for the duration of the mission while Turkey insists that the plane crossed the border and was warned several times before being engaged by two F-16s.
For his part, Vladimir Putin has now called Turkey a “backstabber” on the way to accusing Ankara of funding ISIS and derailing the war on terror.
Meanwhile, the FSA which is aligned with al-Nusra and is backed and funded by the US and Turkey released two videos depicting its fighters celebrating over the body of a dead Russian pilot.
Just in case all of that wasn’t enough, the FSA now claims to have shot down a Russian helicopter as it searched for the two missing pilots.
- SYRIAN OPPOSITION SAYS RUSSIAN HELICOPTER DOWNED: JAZEERA
- RUSSIAN HELICOPTER MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN SYRIA: SOHR
- SYRIAN OBSERVATORY SAYS RUSSIAN HELICOPTER HIT IN SYRIA, REBEL GROUP SAYS IT STRUCK IT WITH ANTI-TANK MISSILE
And here’s The Telegraph:
In what appears to be a separate incident, another Syrian rebel group – the Free Syrian Army’s First Coastal Division – says it has destroyed a Russia helicopter on Turkmen Mountain, using a TOW anti-tank missile, writes Louisa Loveluck, Middle East Correspondent.Pro-regime media outlets appear to have confirmed the report, suggesting that a Russian helicopter has been forced to make an emergency landing in government-controlled Latakia.
It was previously reported that Russian helicopters were trying to access the location where the first fighter bomber had crashed.
If the strike is confirmed, the TOW missile was most likely supplied through the same US and Turkey-backed logistics programme that has reportedly been supplying Alwiya al-Ashar.
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