2023 Turkish drone shootdown

On 5 October 2023, at approximately 11:30 AM local time, a Turkish combat drone was shot down by a United States Air Force F-16 near US forces in the Al-Hasakah region of Syria.

Background
Turkey has frequently criticized the United States for providing aid to the Kurdish YPG in Syria, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization allied with the outlawed PKK. Following the 2023 Ankara bombing, Turkey began to launch airstrikes on targets in the SDF-controlled zones of Syria. Turkey has stated that a ground operation in Kurdish-controlled zones of Syria is an option that it could consider in retaliation for the 2023 Ankara bombing.

Events
According to US officials cited by Politico, a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone was being used in Syria near the position of US troops. The United States attempted to contact Turkey a dozen times to warn them, but to no avail. They then resolved to shoot down the drone using an F-16. The US claimed that the drone had been flying in an "unsynchronized" and "unsafe" way. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and local sources confirmed that a Turkish drone was shot down by US forces.

In the vicinity of Al-Hasakah, Syria, several Turkish strikes occurred at 7:30 AM local time, with some of them inside a US-declared restricted operating zone. The drones were situated approximately one kilometer away from US forces, prompting them to relocate to bunkers. Later, at 11:30 AM local time, a Turkish drone initially identified as a Bayraktar TB2 breached the restricted operating zone once again. U.S. commanders evaluated the drone as a "possible threat," resulting in the F-16 shooting it down. The drone model of the combat drone was identified as a TAI Anka-S drone afterwards in more precise reports.

Aftermath
Turkey's Defense Minister denied that the drone was of Turkish origin but did not provide an explanation about its source. The Pentagon stated that the shooting down of the drone was a "regrettable incident" and that it was done in self-defense. The Defense Ministers of both the United States and Turkey held a call together to discuss the matter. According to the Turkish Defence Minister, the US F-16 that destroyed the drone took off from Jordan and not from the US base at Incirlik, Turkey.

On 10 October, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said : "'The US downed Türkiye's UAV in Syria. Isn't Türkiye US' NATO ally? How do we make sense of this? The US acts like a partner whenever it wants to but trains terrorist groups in Syria at other times.'"He also said that Turkey would do what is "necessary" after this act.