ANKARA, Turkey, July 3 (UPI) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad said he regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet but will not allow tensions to turn into an "armed conflict."
"We will not allow it to turn into an armed conflict that would harm both countries," Assad said in an interview with the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet published Tuesday. "The plane was using the same corridor used by Israeli planes three times in the past … soldiers shot it down since we did not see it on our radars and we were not informed about it. I say 100 percent, I wish we did not shoot it down. ...