Turkey Shot Down A Syrian Fighter Jet And It Was Caught On Camera

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Earlier this morning the Turkish Air Force announced that one of its F-16s shot down a Syrian MiG-23 after the Syrian jet crossed into its airspace. The Syrian pilot managed to eject, but not before the destruction of his aircraft was caught on video.

Turkish news channel Habertürk was doing a live stand-up shot from the Syrian border, when the reporter heard what he thought was artillery fire and turned around. The camera panned and zoomed in just as the smoke was rising from the impact of the jet with the ground.

There are already accusations from Turks that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan engineered the shoot-down and subsequent live news shot, ostensibly to distract from the fact that he actually tried to ban Twitter this week, but it's still a slightly impressive grab nonetheless.

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That being said, what's potentially more impressive is that these Syrian rebel fighters were able to film the plane actually engulfed in flames and falling from the sky from the other side of the border:

Turkey changed its rules of engagement in 2012 to allow for a shootdown of any Syrian aircraft it deems hostile. And this is the result.