Syria: Turkey raising tensions by shooting down our helicopter

The Syrian conflict spilled over international borders today after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Syrian military helicopter that flew into its airspace.

Syria’s military accused Turkey of seeking to escalate tensions. It said the helicopter was monitoring cross-border infiltration of rebels when it “mistakenly” entered Turkish airspace.

Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Bülent Arinç said the aircraft strayed 2km inside Turkey yesterday, and after ignoring repeated warnings to leave, was hit by missiles from the jet and crashed in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters captured one of the crew. The fate of the other is unclear.

Syria claimed the helicopter entered Turkish airspace “for a short distance” by mistake, adding: “The hasty reaction from the Turkish side, particularly that the helicopter was heading back and was not on a fighting mission, reveals the real intentions” of Ankara.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “Nobody will dare to violate Turkey’s borders again.” Turkey has backed the rebels, while advocating international intervention. Today French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was visiting Moscow to try to persuade Russia to support a UN Security Council resolution on Syria. Under a deal brokered by Russia and the US, Syria will disclose its chemical weapons within a week and eliminate them by mid-2014.

Diplomats are at odds over whether there should be a resolution carrying a threat of force. Mr Fabius will meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Yesterday a report by UN inspectors said there was “convincing” evidence that nerve agent sarin was used against civilians in an August 21 attack in Damascus that killed up to 1,400.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it a war crime. Mr Assad has denied his regime was responsible.