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Summary A spokesman for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was following the situation closely.
Syria confirmed on Saturday it had shot down a Turkish warplane over its territory, sparking a fresh crisis between the two countries, while accusing rebels of having massacred 25 of its supporters.UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan urged world powers to increase pressure on both sides in the Syrian conflict, which monitors say has cost more than 15,000 lives since March 2011.And UN aid officials said 1.5 million Syrians now needed their help, warning that the situation was still deteriorating.A Syrian military spokesman told the official news agency SANA that anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on an unidentified target after it entered their airspace, bringing it down in Syrian waters.They subsequently established it was a Turkish fighter and the two countries navies were now cooperating in an operation to find the two missing pilots, the agency reported.A short time earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a written statement saying Syria had shot down a Turkish fighter jet reported missing over the eastern Mediterranean Friday.The statement came after an emergency meeting with military and intelligence chiefs and key ministers.Turkey will announce its final position and take necessary steps with determination after the incident is entirely clarified, Erdogan said.A spokesman for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was following the situation closely.He hopes this serious incident can be handled with restraint by both sides through diplomatic channels, said Martin Nesirky.The latest crisis will further test relations between the two neighbours, already strained over Erdogans outspoken condemnation of Syrias bloody crackdown on anti-government protests.
