A Russian pilot was killed after his fighter jet was shot down over rebel-held Syrian territory on Saturday, Russia’s defense ministry said.
The Sukhoi SU-25 plane was shot down in Syria’s northern Idlib province, where Syrian troops have launched a ground offensive backed by Russian jets. The rebels appeared to have shot down the jet using a man-portable anti-aircraft system, according to defense ministry officials quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Russia and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britian-based war monitoring group, said that the pilot was killed while exchanging gunfire with rebel fighters after parachuting to the ground. Videos online showed rebels surrounding the body of a man they said was Russian, but the images have not yet been verified.
It was not immediately clear which anti-regime group shot down the jet.
ALSO WATCH:
The rare downing of a Russian jet in Syria comes amid increasing airstrikes in support of the Syrian regime’s offensive in Idlib and other remaining rebel-held areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday there have been dozens of Russian air strikes in the area over the past 24 hours, forcing civilians to flee to the north, reports the BBC.
Russia claims it only targets hard-line Islamist militants in Syria.
About 45 Russian military personnel — plus an unknown number of contractors — have been confirmed killed in action in Syria. The pilot in Saturday’s incident was able to radio that he had ejected from his plane in an area held by al-Qaeda-linked militants, but later “died in a fight with the terrorists,” according to Russia’s defense ministry.
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