Turkish court acquits Syrian soldier over espionage charges

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A Syrian military pilot captured by Turkish authorities in 2017 was acquitted of espionage on Tuesday.

Muhammad Sufhan was detained in Turkey after his fighter jet crashed in the southern province of Hatay on the border with Syria in March 2017. He was facing up to 12 years in prison over charges of spying and violating the state border.

Sufhan, 58, was being tried in absentia after he was handed over to Syrian authorities in October 2017 in what analysts said was the result of respite in relations between Ankara and Moscow, a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, following a period of tension over the 2015 downing of a Sukhoi Su-24 by Turkey.

At the time, Syrian TV said the soldier's return followed "vigorous attempts and intensive efforts," without elaborating.

Years after the incident, details about what caused the aircraft to crash remain scarce amid mixed reports.

Turkish media quoted Sufhan as saying that his MiG-23 was brought down en route to Idlib in northwestern Syria. He had taken off from a base in the coastal city of Latakia.

Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham claimed they were behind the crash of the fighter jet that they said was carrying out airstrikes. They released a video purportedly showing the moment the jet was downed with anti-aircraft gunfire.

"We hit the plane with 23mm anti-aircraft guns while it was conducting a low bombing raid in Idlib's rural areas," the group's spokesperson Ahmed Karaali told Turkey's Anadolu.

However, Damascus maintained that a technical glitch was behind the incident. "We lost contact with a warplane on a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border and search operation for the pilot is underway," state-run SANA news agency quoted an unnamed military source.

The pilot managed to eject as the jet was going down and landed in Turkish territory. He was found some 500 meters from the crash site by Turkish rescuers.

By September 2018, some 143 aircraft had been brought down or destroyed in Syria since the war began in 2011, of which 111 belong to the Syrian army, according to Statista data.

The crowded Syrian airspace reflects the chaotic scenes on the ground, which has been fragmented into an ever-shifting patchwork of areas ruled by different fighting factions with conflicting interests.

(Cover image: Syrian soldier Muhammad Sufhan lies in a hospital bed in Turkey. /Photo via a Syrian blog)