Syria says Turkish fighter jet shot down inside country's territory

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered a cabinet shake-up on Saturday, keeping three major portfolios unchanged, namely, the ministers of defense, foreign affairs and interior, while assigning an opponent as the minister of domestic trade.

The cabinet reshuffle came in light of the new constitution and after the election of a new parliament.

According to a presidential decree broadcast by the Syrian Television, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and Minister of Defense Dawood Rajaha, will remain at their posts.

Jet shot down

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Saturday it was not possible to ignore the fact that Syria had shot down a Turkish fighter jet and said everything that needed to be done following the incident would be done, Turkish media reported.

"It is not possible to cover over a thing like this, whatever is necessary will no doubt be done," Gul told reporters from the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

The Turkish military said it had lost contact with one of its F-4 fighter jets off the southern Turkish coast near Syria on Friday morning and Damascus later acknowledged it had shot the plane down.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who had been returning from a summit in Brazil when the news broke, called an emergency security meeting on his arrival in Ankara and in a statement his office said Ankara would act "decisively" once all the details had emerged.

Syria has said the Turkish aircraft was flying low and well inside Syrian territorial waters when it was shot down. Gul said it was normal for jets to briefly cross into foreign airspace and said a probe into the incident would look at whether in fact it was downed while in Turkish airspace.

"When we think of the speed of these jet planes while flying above the sea, crossing over borders for a short distance and then back again is a little bit routine," said Gul.

He said because of the serious nature of the incident it was not possible at this stage to give any more detailed statement.

The plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea about 13 kilometers away from the Syrian town of Latakia, Turkey said.

The incident further escalated tensions between the two neighbors, which used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began in March 2011. Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the Syrian government's response to the country's uprising.

Turkish media said that Syrian and Turkish coast guards are conducting a joint search mission for the jet's two missing crewmembers.

"Our investigation will focus on whether the plane was brought down within our borders or not," Gul said. "Because the consequences could be quite serious, there will be no clear statement before the details (of the incident) are scrutinized," Gul said.

Late on Friday, Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, said the military spotted an "unidentified aerial target" that was flying at a low altitude and at a high speed.

Reuters-AP-Xinhua