Two Russian pilots were filmed parachuting out of their Su-24 fighter jet after it was hit by Turkish F-16s near Turkey's border with Syria on Tuesday, and Syrian rebels say one of the pilots is dead. The rebels sent Reuters a video of what appears to be a blond Russian pilot, immobile and bloodied. "A Russian pilot," a voice says. Another adds, "The 10th Division has captured a Russian pilot, God is greatest." Jahed Ahmad of the rebel 10th Brigade in the Coast tells The Associated Press that the two pilots tried to land in Syrian government–held areas, but that his forces shot one of the pilots, who was dead when he landed. The fate of the second pilot isn't known yet.
Russia has been helping Syrian government forces attack the Turkmen Mountains area, where the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups have a presence but the Islamic State does not. Turkey has complained about Russian involvement in attacks on the ethnic Turkmens in the Turkish border area. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was already scheduled to travel to Turkey in a few days, and the downing of the jet — and whether or not it was in Turkish airspace, as Ankara says but Russia denies — is now sure to be a main focus of the meeting. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he has ordered the Foreign Ministry to consult with NATO, of which Turkey is a member, and the United Nations. You can watch the warplane crash, and the pilots float partway down, in the video below. Peter Weber
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