OREANDA-NEWS. The command of the grouping of troops of the Russian Federation cannot guarantee the safety of Turkish aviation in the sky of Syria. This was announced on Sunday by the head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev.

He noted that the Syrian government was forced to announce the closure of airspace over the province of Idlib. "Under these conditions, the command of the Russian group of forces cannot guarantee the safety of Turkish aviation flights in the sky of Syria", said Rear Admiral. Earlier, a source in the Syrian Defense Ministry said that Turkish F-16s shot down two Syrian Air Force aircraft over the Idlib de-escalation zone, the pilots ejected. According to him, six shock Turkish drones were destroyed by Syrian air defense systems.

Zhuravlev also emphasized that "information referring to the militants' Internet resources about the alleged defeat from a MANPADS of a Su-24 aircraft of the Russian Air Force in the airspace above the Idlib de-escalation zone isn't true".