WAR

Plane Crashes Near Syria-Turkey Border, Officials Say

Thought to be Syrian military aircraft.

A plane that is believed to be a Syrian military aircraft has crashed near the border with Turkey, Turkish authorities said on Saturday. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters the plane had gone down near the town of Samandag in Hatay province. He said Turkish authorities had “information” that it was “a MIG model plane belonging to the Syrian regime,” the Associated Press reported, citing Turkish reports. Hatay province governor Erdal Ata told the Anadolu news agency that rescuers had arrived to find the plane empty, confirming earlier reports from locals that the pilots had ejected from the aircraft. Ata said the aircraft had not violated airspace and Turkish forces had not approached it, suggesting it crashed for technical reasons. A spokesman for the opposition military group Ahrar al-Sham claimed credit, however, saying the group shot it down for bombing the countryside in Idlib.