Turkey scrambles two F-16 jets on Syrian border

Turkey scrambled two F-16 fighter jets near its border with Syria on Saturday after a Syrian Su-24 bomber came close to the border, the Turkish army said in a statement on Sunday.

The Syrian jet withdrew after coming within 1.2 nautical miles of the Turkish border, the statement said.

In 2012, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet in the border area. Turkey and Syria were once allies, but the outbreak of civil war in its neighbor prompted Turkey to say that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had lost his legitimacy.