The shooting down of a Russian military plane by Turkey in Syria's Latakia province and the killing of one of the Russian pilots by a rebel group that includes local Turkmen fighters has brought the Syrian minority into focus. The Turkmens in Syria were among the first to take up arms against Syrian government forces, as Turkey lent its support to rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad. The military wing of the assembly is called the Syrian Turkmen Brigades and aims to protect areas with Turkmens from government forces and the Islamic State group.