WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near its troops in Syria, US officials said, the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of Nato ally Turkiye.

A Turlcish defence ministry official said the drone shot down by the US-led coalition did not belong to the Turkish armed forces but did not say whose property it was.

Two US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said an F-16 shot down the Turkish drone after the United States called Turkish military officials multiple times to warn them they were operating close to US ground forces. The officials said the Turl(ish drone was believed to be armed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a local security source said the US-led coalition had shot down a Turkish drone near a base in north-eastern Syria.

The incident comes at a delicate moment for US-Turkish relations, with the United States hoping Turkiye will ratify Nato membership for Sweden.

While the United States has not shot down a Turkish aircraft before, tensions have flared and there have been close calls. In 2019, US troops in northern Syria came under artillery fire from Turkish positions.-Reuters