Syrian President Bashar Assad regrets the shooting down of a Turkish jet by his forces, a Turkish newspaper said today.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper published the remarks from an exclusive interview with Mr Assad in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Sunday.

The paper quoted Mr Assad as saying: "I say 100%, I wish we did not shoot it down."

Turkey says Syrian forces downed its jet in international airspace after it briefly strayed into Syrian airspace on June 22.

Mr Assad insists the plane was inside Syrian airspace and flying in a corridor that had been used by Israeli planes three times in the past.

Turkey responded by deploying anti-aircraft missiles on the Syrian border, and has scrambled its jets several times after it said its border was approached by Syrian helicopters.

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