Injured Pilot of Downed Syrian Fighter Found in Turkey

Turkey's state news agency has reported that the injured pilot of a Syrian army fighter jet, which crashed on Friday, has been found and is now in Turkey. Anadolu Agency reported on March 6 that the pilot is hospitalized in Hatay, a province on the border between the two countries. The NTV television network also stated that the injured pilot is being treated in a hospital in Turkey. The Syrian army fighter jet crashed while on a mission in the northern part of the country. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the crash, stating that the aircraft fell near the town of Samandag in Hatay and that the pilot likely ejected with a parachute. Turkish media later reported, citing the governor of Hatay, that the wreckage of the aircraft had been found. The Syrian government has not explicitly confirmed the crash, but its army stated that it lost communication with one of its jets near the Turkish border. The Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham claimed responsibility for targeting the aircraft in Idlib. A video has also been circulated on social media purportedly showing the moment of the aircraft's crash, depicting a fighter jet and images of gunfire from the ground. However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London, stated that it is still unclear whether the cause of the crash was a technical failure or if the jet was shot down. Yildirim had previously suggested that bad weather might have caused the fighter jet's crash. Anadolu Agency, citing the Turkish government, stated that the recent incident 'does not constitute a violation of territorial integrity and that the aircraft [before the crash] did not enter the territory of that country.' Turkey is one of the main opponents of Bashar al-Assad and supports several rebel groups opposing the Syrian president.