Syria: We thought downed Turkish plane was Israeli

A Syrian minister is quoted as saying his country's forces may have mistaken the Turkish plane they shot down for an Israeli one.

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Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi was quoted as telling Turkish news channel A Haber in a telephone interview Wednesday that his country did "not want a crisis between Turkey and Syria."

Turkish jet's flight path (Photo: EPA) 

Al-Zoebi said Turkish and Israeli fighter jets were mostly US-made, which may have led the Syrian forces to mistake it for an Israeli jet.

Turkey warned Syria on Tuesday to keep its troops away from the countries' troubled border or risk an armed response, an angry reply to the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance plane last week.

Syrian news outlets quoted a military expert as saying that the anti-aircraft weapons used to down the Turkish fighter jet last weekend were made in Iran, Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday.

According to the Arabic newspaper, the Syrian expert said Damascus purchased an Iranian-made anti-aircraft gun two years ago. He said the gun can be mounted on armored vehicles.

The expert said the downed Turkish jet flew at a low altitude so as not to be detected by the Syrian radar. However, the expert said, the Turkish crew was not aware that the Syrian air force was in possession of a weapon capable of intercepting planes flying at such a low altitude.

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