THE dangerous skies over Syria have now earned their reputation. The Turkish foreign ministry has confirmed that its forces had shot down a fighter aircraft near the Turkish border with Syria. The Russian foreign ministry confirmed soon afterwards that it has lost an SU-24 over Syria.

The situation remains tense: two crew members were filmed ejecting from the stricken aircraft and early reports from Reuters said it had video of one of the crew pilot seemingly dead on the ground. Russia later confirmed two of its personnel were dead. One of the pilots and a marine in a helicopter flying a rescue mission for the two pilots that was attacked by rebel fire.

Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called the incident a “a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists”. He said the shooting down would have “significant consequences, including for Russia-Turkish relations”.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council in Brussels, diplomats condemned Russian incursions but said Turkey should have escorted the Russian warplane from its airspace. “There are other ways of dealing with these kinds of incidents,” one unnamed diplomat told Reuters.

The question now is, what next?

Not happy ... Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened Turkey with serious consequences. Picture: Maxim Shipenkov via APSource:AP

叙利亚危险的上空名副其实。土耳其外交部声称他们的武力部队在土耳其与叙利亚边界处击落了一架战斗机。不久后俄罗斯外交部声称他们在叙利亚上空遗失了一架SU-24。

局势持续紧张：机内两名成员被拍到从被袭的机舱里弹出，路透社初期报道他们获得了其中一名成员疑似在落地时死亡的录像。俄罗斯之后确认他们的两名成员全部死亡，在前往营救两名飞行员的直升机中的一名飞行员和海军遭到了反动派的火力袭击。

俄罗斯总统，弗拉基米尔普京，称这起事故为“背后捅刀，由恐怖分子同谋者一手策划”。他说这起空袭将导致“极为严重的后果，包括影响俄罗斯土耳其之间的关系”。

与此同时，北约的北大西洋委员会在布鲁塞尔举行的一场会议中，外交官谴责俄罗斯的入侵行为，同时说明土耳其本应该护送俄罗斯的战斗机离开其领空。“对于这样的事件是有更好的解决办法的。”一名未透露姓名的外交官告诉路透社。

现在的问题是，接下来该怎么办？

不开心...俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔普京以后果严重威胁土耳其。图片来源： Maxim Shipenkov 通过 APSource:AP发布。