Well looking TEEEJ's picture of the TU radar plot, I would say that is an unfortunate shoot down. Helo flying at a reported 14200 feet, I would assume flying visually (not sure of the moving map and GPS fit of the Mi-17) strays a short distance over the border (not difficult to misident valleys from 14000 feet and 2km would be what? 60 secs of flying time?), does not appear to be doing anything hostile (has anyone seen any reports of demonstrating hostile intent?) and is shot down.
And 2 minutes from crossing the border to being shot down! Not much time for an intercept, VID, followed by the internationally recognised interception signals (fly alongside, waggle wings etc etc) - no, straight to shoot down. And close enough to the border for the helo to crash on Syrian territory.
Looks more like revenge for the Syrian shootdown of the TuAF jet a few months back.
