The navigator Konstantin Murakhtin was rescued, but the pilot Oleg Peshkov was shot and killed by Syrian rebel ground fire while descending by parachute.

[10][11] The incident was the first destruction of a Russian or Soviet Air Forces warplane by a NATO member state since an attack on the Sui-ho Dam during the Korean War in 1953.

In response, the Turkish Armed Forces deployed the KORAL land-based radar electronic support system in Hatay Province along the Turkish–Syrian border.

[18][19][20] Nevertheless, as a response to the event he announced that Turkey changed its rules of engagement, and said it would start to consider all "military elements" approaching from Syria an enemy threat and would act accordingly.

[40] Russia, which was criticised by Turkey for having conducted operations near the Turkish border, a region inhabited by Syrian Turkmen and largely free of ISIL (though al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, was present in the region),[41][42] was notified that Turkey's rules of engagement were in place and it would react to any violations of its border security.

The Turkmen brigades also cooperated with al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the al-Nusra Front and with the Salafi coalition known as Ahrar al-Sham.

[citation needed] The Turkish military released a graphic of the Russian aircraft's flight pattern, which shows it crossing the southern tip of Hatay Province before being shot down and crashing near Turkmen Mountain.

[51][52] Russia then countered Turkey's radar trace analysis by publishing a different flight map showing no airspace violation.

[55] According to Turkey's statement to the UN Security Council, two aircraft, whose nationalities were unknown at the time, violated Turkish airspace up to a depth of 2.19 km (1.36 mi) for about 17 seconds.

[3] Based on its heat signature, an anonymous American official stated that the jet was hit in Syrian airspace after a short incursion into Turkey.

[64] According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the Su-24 was downed from an altitude of 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) within one kilometre of the Turkish border and in Syrian airspace, while returning to the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.

[51] Initially, the deputy commander of a Turkmen Syrian opposition rebel brigade in Syria, Alparslan Çelik (a Turkish citizen and member of the Grey Wolves ultra-nationalist group[66][67][68]), claimed his forces had shot dead the two pilots as they descended with parachutes,[69] and in a film a person could be heard in the background repeatedly shouting "Stop shooting!"

[11] The shooting of an ejecting aircraft pilot is in contravention of Article 42 of the 1977 Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions,[75] yet, Protocol I only apply to interstate armed conflict (i.e., fighting between opposing states) and no international humanitarian law prohibited such practice in a non-interstate conflict (i.e., fighting between state forces and non-state armed groups).

[76] The pilot of the Su-24, Oleg Peshkov, 45, was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation, the country's highest military honour; the surviving weapon systems officer, Konstantin Murakhtin, and the deceased rescuer, Alexander Pozynich, 29, received the Order of Courage.

One of the helicopters was damaged by small-arms fire from Syrian Turkmen Brigade militants, resulting in the death of a naval infantryman, and was forced to make an emergency landing.

[citation needed] The Free Syrian Army's 1st Coastal Division claimed that they subsequently destroyed the abandoned helicopter using a US-made BGM-71 TOW missile.

The rescue team which General Soleimani put forth consisted of eight Hezbollah special forces personnel and 18 Syrian commandos, who were trained by Iran and had firsthand knowledge of the geography of the area, with Russia providing transport, logistical support, air cover and satellite intelligence.

[84][85] On 25 November, the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke for an hour by telephone, and both governments stated that day that they would not initiate a war as a result of the incident.

[90] A few hours after the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke from Sochi, where he was meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, saying that it was a "stab in the back by terrorist accomplices,"[51][91] that Russia would not put up with attacks like this one[45] and that Russia–Turkey relations would be affected.

He also stressed that Turkey's actions were fully in line with the new rules of engagement adopted after Syria shot down a Turkish jet in 2012.

[108] Russia started bombarding rebels – including Turkmen insurgents – in Latakia, ignoring demands made by Turkey over the previous week to end its military operations close to the Turkish border.

[citation needed] A Turkish supply convoy, reportedly carrying small arms, machine-guns and ammunition, was bombed by what is believed to have been Russian airstrikes in the northwestern town of Azaz, in north-western Syria.

[citation needed] Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency accused Russia of supporting the Kurdish YPG, PYD and Syrian Democratic Forces.

[118] On 2 December, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said in a media briefing with foreign journalists that Turkey was the biggest buyer of "stolen" oil from Syria and Iraq and accused the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of being directly involved in the trade of petroleum with the Islamic State group.

[120] At his annual press conference on 17 December 2015, when asked about a third-party involvement in the current Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated by the shootdown of Russian Su-24, Vladimir Putin remarked "…if someone in the Turkish government decided to lick the Americans in a certain place, well I don't know then, was that the right decision or not?".

[127] Three weeks later (in the meantime, there had been a coup d'état attempt against him), Erdoğan announced in an interview that the two Turkish pilots who downed Russian aircraft were arrested on suspicion that they have links to the Gülen movement, and that a court should find out "the truth".

[128] By doing so, Turkish government aimed to cast aspirations to the movement, a conspiracy theory implying that the organization was behind the all troubles Turkey was facing.