“Syria immediately offered a very serious apology for the incident and admitted it was a mistake”, Haberturk daily newspaper quoted Mr Erdogan as saying onboard a plane on the way to Turkey from Brazil. …

The F-4 Phantom, a fighter bomber with a pilot and navigator on board, disappeared over the Mediterranean. All radar and radio contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after it departed from Erhac air base in Turkey’s southern province of Malatya.

Turkey is a member of Nato, meaning that it could invoke Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty and summon the aid of all 28 countries in the alliance if it comes under attack. Turkey’s government is a strident critic of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and tension has risen along the land border between the two neighbours.