Update on the investigation of the Turkish RF-4E Phantom jet, an unarmed reconnaissance military jet, that crashed off Syria in June.
The General Staff’s Turkish Military Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday released the findings of an investigation launched into the downing of the jet. According to the military, the jet went down after a blast of a missile launched by Syrian air forces hit its left back section while it was flying over the Eastern Mediterranean. The report also said radar data obtained from the plane’s computer indicated that the plane received a signal from a missile.
The report concluded that a surface-to-air missile was fired toward the Turkish plane as it flew in international air space in the eastern Mediterranean.
“The missile detonated just behind and to the left of the plane. The blast from the explosion caused the plane and the pilots to lose the capability to continue a stable flight. The plane continuously lost altitude as it banked left, until it crashed into water in a position slightly tipped to the left with the plane’s nose pointing up.”
Syrian authorities claimed responsibility for downing the jet immediately following the incident but defended the action, saying that the Syrian air defense was forced to react immediately to a Turkish jet flying low at 100 meters (330 feet) inside Syrian airspace in what was “a clear breach of Syrian sovereignty.” Syria also said the plane was downed by anti-aircraft fire, rather than by a missile, well within its airspace.
Turkey, on the other hand, maintained that the plane was shot down by a missile outside of Syrian airspace — 13 miles off the Syrian coast — when it was on a solo mission to test domestic radar systems.
YALLA SOURIYA 