'US believes Russian jet was in Syrian airspace when Turkey shot it down'

Official tells Reuters conclusion is based on "heat signature of jet."

By REUTERS
Putin and Erdogan (photo credit: REUTERS)
Putin and Erdogan
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON - The United States believes that the Russian jet shot down by Turkey on Tuesday was hit inside Syrian airspace after a brief incursion into Turkish airspace, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said that assessment was based on detection of the heat signature of the jet.
President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Tuesday about the need to de-escalate tensions with Russia after Turkey shot down the Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border, the White House said.
Obama expressed "US and NATO support for Turkey's right to defend its sovereignty," the White House said in a statement.
Video purporting to show Turkish F16s shooting down warplane
"The leaders agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation and pursuing arrangements to ensure that such incidents do not happen again," the statement said.
 
Erdogan on Tuesday defended Turkey's right to protect its borders after the plane was shot down, an incident he said Turkey had made every effort to avoid.
"Despite being warned 10 times in five minutes because it was coming towards our border, it insisted on continuing its violation. This plane was downed in an intervention by our F-16s," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, adding the actions were fully in line with Turkey's rules of engagement.
"The reason why worse incidents have not taken place in the past regarding Syria is the cool-headedness of Turkey. Nobody should doubt that we made our best efforts to avoid this latest incident. But everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders," he said.
Erdogan hit out at Russia, arguing that their military campaign is targeting many groups opposed to Syrian president al-Assad, and not only Islamic State. "Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists are not present in the area where Syrian Turkmen are living. Nobody should try to lure people. Only Syrian Turkmen who are our relatives are living in that region. They are ostensibly striking against Daesh but they are hitting Syrian Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are trying to defend their land."
Erdogan also said that Turkey, together with its allies, would soon realize a "humanitarian safe zone" between Syria's Jarablus and the Mediterranean coast.
Responding to the incident earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was one km inside Syria and warned of "serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".