Turkey claims warplanes shoot down Syrian helicopter

Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter on Monday after it violated Turkish airspace and are continuing to patrol the border, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.

"Today, an Mi-17 helicopter belonging to Syria violated the Turkish border in the Guvecci area of Yayladagi in Hatay province by 2 km," Arinc told reporters in Ankara after a regular cabinet meeting.

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"It was repeatedly warned by our air defense elements. When the violation continued, our planes ... hit the helicopter with a missile causing it to fall on Syrian soil."

Turkey will provide the UN Security Council and fellow members of the NATO military alliance with details of the circumstances of its shooting down of the Syrian helicopter, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

Turkey, one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's fiercest critics, has advocated military intervention in Syria and grown frustrated over what it sees as Western indecisiveness.

Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, is sheltering a quarter of the 2 million people who have fled the Syrian conflict.

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