(VOVworld) – Syrian airforce immediately responded to a Turkish plane flying at an altitude of 100 meters within Syrian airspace in violation of Syrian territory. Syrian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Jihad Makdissi made this statement on Monday, adding the Turkish Phantom F4 jet was shot down by an anti-aircraft gun, not by a rocket with radar. The diplomat said Syria pledges to maintain its neighborly relationship with Turkey. Currently, the two countries are cooperating to search for the 2 missing pilots.

Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jihad Makdissi. Photo: internet

The same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on NATO to not intensify the situation in Syrian at its meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Turkey’s proposal. The Russian News Agency Ria Novosti quoted Foreign Minister Alexander Glushko as saying that the alliance meeting proposed by Turkey could be an alarming signal of escalating tensions in Syria. Glushko added that under these circumstances, the international community should speed up joint-efforts to seek political solutions for the Syrian crisis.

In another development, EU foreign ministers condemed Syria for shooting down a Turkish army reconnessance plane and announced that the European Union will increase sanctions to further pressure President Bashar Al Assad administration. The announcement was made at a meeting of European Union’s Ministers in Luxembourge, a day before the NATO meeting to discuss reponses to Syria’s shooting down Turkish planes.