Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told a Turkish newspaper he wished Syrian forces had not shot down a Turkish jet last month.

"We learned that it belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 per cent 'if only we had not shot it down'," the Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.

Asked whether the tensions between Syria and Turkey could lead to war, Assad said: "We will not allow this to turn into open combat between the two countries, which would harm them both."

He also said Syria had not amassed and would not amass military forces along the Turkish border, whatever action Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government takes.

Turkey has heightened military activity along its southern border since Syria shot down the jet over the Mediterranean on June 22, prompting a sharp rebuke from Ankara which said it would respond "decisively".