DAMASCUS, Nov 25: Two Russian pilots were shot dead by Syrian rebels as they parachuted from their burning warplane, it has been claimed.
And a third was killed during a mission to rescue the pair as another rebel group shot a helicopter with an anti-tank missile.
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Another video appeared to show forces shooting at the pilots with machine guns after they had ejected from the Sukhoi Su-24, which had been blasted by two Turkish F-16 jets for violating the country's airspace. Gunfire can be heard as one of the rebels cries: 'Don't shoot, let's capture them as hostages.'
Claims the jet breached Turkish airspace have now been refuted by a furious Vladimir Putin - who has accused Turkey of funding ISIS and using its military to protect the terrorist organisation. He called it a 'stab in the back' committed by 'accomplices of terrorists'.
Meanwhile Sir Michael Graydon, former head of the RAF, warned: 'It horrifies me that the Russians were stupid enough to fly either that close to the border or violate the border.
'But of all the tensions in that part of the world was it absolutely necessary to shoot the aircraft down? One aircraft was not going to change the course of history and now it probably will. Shooting down the aircraft has caused a monstrous diplomatic problem.'
