The June 22 incident has been controversial from the very beginning. Official statements about the conditions of the incident have offered contradictory accounts about how the plane was downed. Turkey has long said Syria shot the pilots’ plane down in international waters, while Syria has claimed it shot the plane down about 100 meters off its shore.

Officials have also said an autopsy on the bodies of the two pilots revealed that there were no bullet wounds but the final autopsy results were never disclosed to the pilots’ families.

Al Arabiya’s claims come amidst already high tensions between Turkey and Syria. The document also suggests that Russia was also involved in the downing of the jet.

Meanwhile, a retired Turkish general has dismissed claims that Syria covered up the murder of two Turkish pilots in June, saying the country lacked the technology to place the bodies next to their downed plane, daily Hürriyet has reported.

The report said a subsequently leaked file, also sent from the presidential palace and addressed to all heads of units of the Syrian foreign intelligence, said based on Russian advice, the Syrian intelligence decided to “eliminate” the pilots “in a natural way.”

“Based on information and guidance from the Russian leadership, there was a need to eliminate the two Turkish pilots detained by Syria’s Special Operations Unit in a natural way and their bodies need to be returned to the crash site in international waters,” the document  said.

This disclosure is the first in a series of revelations based on a number of newly-leaked and highly classified Syrian security documents aired  by Al Arabiya channel. The documents were obtained with the assistance of members of the Syrian opposition who refused to elaborate on how they laid hand on the documents.