Syrian jet shot down by Turkey

^{Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Sunday morning's rally in Ankara (AP)}

Following Syria's downing of a Turkish jet in 2012, Mr Erdogan said the military's rules of engagement had changed and that any Syrian element approaching the border would be deemed a threat and be treated as a military target.

In September Turkish warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter.

Mr Erdogan continued: 'Our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace.

'I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots. I congratulate our air forces,'

Turkey, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fiercest critics, has advocated military intervention in Syria and grown frustrated over what it sees as Western indecisiveness.

It shares a 560-mile border with Syria and is sheltering a quarter of the 2 million people who have fled the Syrian conflict.

Syria called the shooting a 'blatant aggression'.

'In a flagrant act of aggression that is evidence of Erdogan's support for terrorist groups, Turkish anti-aircraft defences shot down a Syrian military aircraft that was chasing terrorist groups inside Syrian territory at Kasab,' a military source said.

State television quoted a military source as saying the pilot managed to eject from the plane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said initial reports from the area said the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border.

The Observatory claimed that the warplane was shot down as it bombed rebels fighting to seize control of a border post in northwestern Syria.

'Turkish air defences targeted a Syrian fighter bomber as it struck areas of the northern province of Latakia. The plane caught fire and crashed in Syrian territory,' it said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report from Syria, but the foreign ministry in Damascus issued a protest over Turkish 'interference' in the Kasab region of Latakia.

Turkey's 'unjustified military aggression against Syrian sovereignty in the Kasab border region over the past two days proves its implication in the events in Syria,' it said in a statement.

The Observatory said government forces and rebels on the ground were battling for control of a border post with Turkey in Latakia province.

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