Iran on Tuesday offered to use its good ties with Damascus and Ankara to help resolve the row between the two countries over Syria's downing of a Turkish warplane.

Syria's shooting down of the jet last Friday was "a very sensitive issue" that also concerns Tehran, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said, just ahead of an emergency NATO meeting on the incident.

Turkey has told the U.N. Security Council that Syria's downing of one of its fighter jets poses a "serious threat to peace and security” after Damascus insisted the plane had violated its airspace.

Turkey, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, said Monday its plane had gone down in international airspace.

A rescue plane searching for a Turkish fighter jet that had been shot down over the eastern Mediterranean was itself placed in the crosshairs by the Syrian military, a European diplomat told Agence France Presse on Monday.

The Turkish army Casa CN-235, a twin-propeller transport, was targeted by a Syrian ground-to-air defense system as it looked Friday for the F4 Phantom jet that had been downed earlier with its crew of two, said the diplomat.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi on Monday insisted that a Turkish F-4 Phantom jet its forces shot down on Friday had "violated Syrian sovereignty."

"The Turkish warplane violated Syrian airspace, and in turn Syrian air defenses fired back and the plane crashed inside Syrian territorial waters," he told a news conference that he said would "refute the lies" of Turkish officials.

Another general and some 30 soldiers have fled to Turkey from neighboring Syria and joined the swelling ranks of rebel soldiers based close to the border, the Anatolia news agency reported on Monday.

The defection brought to 13 the number of generals seeking refuge in Turkey since the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime erupted 16 months ago.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius welcomed Monday's agreement to impose fresh EU sanctions against Syria but called on the 27-nation bloc "to go further".

"I'm satisfied that these new sanctions have been adopted but I would like to go further," Fabius told a news conference held during talks between European Union foreign ministers.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Syria on Sunday for the "brazen and unacceptable" shooting down of a Turkish fighter jet and vowed to work with Ankara on a suitable response.

"It is yet another reflection of the Syrian authorities' callous disregard for international norms, human life, and peace and security," Clinton said in a written statement.

Search and rescue teams have located the wreckage of the Turkish military jet shot down by Syria, CNN-Turk television reported on Sunday without citing a source.

The wreckage has been found at a depth of 1,300 meters, it said, without giving its precise location. The Turkish foreign ministry said it could not confirm the report.

Turkish warplanes have carried out strikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq, the army said on Sunday.

The general staff said on its website the air strikes had hit "nine targets belonging to the separatist terrorist organization" referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), on June 22-24.

NATO said it will hold an emergency meeting after Ankara on Sunday accused Syria of downing a Turkish jet in international airspace, raising fears that tensions could soar in the tinderbox region.

While admitting that a Turkish F-4 phantom jet briefly strayed into Syrian territory on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was clearly out of it when it was shot down.