Greece scrambled its fighter aircraft on Tuesday to intercept a group of Turkish F-16 fighter jets that violated its airspace in the eastern Aegean Sea, the General Staff of the Hellenic National Defense said in statement.

A formation of six Turkish fighter jets trespassed into Greece’s flight information region at 3:01 p.m. local time (13:01GMT) in the area between the islands of Lesbos and Chios, the statement said. The jets stayed in the Greek airspace for almost half an hour.

Greek aircraft intercepted the trespassers "according to international rules and established practice," the General Staff said.