VKS Russian airstrike, which killed the Turkish military, was caused by the mistake of the Syrian military, who were unable to correctly identify the purpose, according to Vedomosti citing a source in the Russian defense Ministry.
According to the publication, on the morning of February 9, compounds of the Syrian freedom army (FSA) near the village of al-HUS attacked the left flank of the advancing East along the M4 highway to the Syrian government’s “Tiger forces”(the collective name of several units of the Syrian army).
On this track according to the Russian-Syrian agreement is the dividing line between the opposition and government forces.
In the “Tiger force” was the Russian forward air controllers, and, most likely, as the newspaper notes, they are not visually identified the attackers as Pro-Turkish forces, perhaps mistaking them for the forces of “Islamic state”.
After that, the Syrian military has summoned the Russian aircraft, but to the moment of impact the situation has changed − force FSA advanced in the direction of El-Baba, and their positions were taken by Turkish soldiers.
According to the source Newspapers in order to avoid such situations in the future, Turkey and Russia agree that Russian and Turkish advanced air controllers were coming in the area of El-Baba units.
Recall, February 9, three Turkish soldiers were killed and 11 were injured as a result of erroneous blow to Russian aviation in Syria.
