Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet was a confrontation waiting to happen

THE SHOOTING down by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber on Tuesday morning—the first time a NATO member has admitted bringing down a Russian warplane since the end of the cold war—was in many ways a confrontation waiting to happen. Syria has become a messy battleground with outside powers supporting different proxy factions and, increasingly, intervening directly in the country’s civil war. Russian, American and French air forces have all bombed targets in Syria with worryingly little co-ordination.

Turkey, in particular, has repeatedly cautioned Russia to keep its planes on the Syrian side of the border, after an intrusion by a Russian jet in October. While Russia is supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey has made little secret of wanting to see him gone and of supporting Sunni rebel groups.