BEIRUT: Militant fighters shot down a Russian plane over Syria’s northwestIdlib province on Saturday and captured its pilot, a monitor said.
“Rebel factions shot down a Sukhoi 25. The Russian pilot came down in aparachute, before being captured,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He could not immediately confirm which faction had downed the plane but themilitant Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other terrorist groups are activein Idlib.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Syrian troops launched a fierce offensive on Idlib in late December, withbacking by Russian warplanes.
“There have been dozens of Russian air strikes in the area over the past 24hours. This plane was also carrying out raids there,” said Abdel Rahman.
Militant factions have shot Syrian regime planes in the past, but downingRussian warplanes is much rarer.
In August 2016, a Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria andall five people on board were killed.
Moscow began conducting air strikes in Syria in September 2015.
Two months later, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, leading to the worstcrisis in ties between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.