Turkey Beefs Up Air Patrols Along Syrian Border

The Turkish military has increased the number of F-16 Fighting Falcon jets patrolling its southern border with war-torn Syria, the country’s General Staff said Friday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that on October 3 an Su-30 Flanker multirole fighter had briefly entered Turkish airspace for a few seconds due to poor weather conditions. Moscow officially apologized for what it said had been a "misunderstanding" and vowed to avoid such incidents in future.

"Fourteen F-16 fighter aircraft patrolled the Turkish-Syrian border on October 8," the Turkish military said in a statement.

Russia’s Sukhoi Su-25, Su-24M and Su-34 attack aircraft, with the support of Su-30 jets, commenced precision airstrikes against IS targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said Ankara had sent Moscow an invitation to talks with military specialists on the Russian military aircraft violation of the country’s airspace, however, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had not received the invitation yet.