MOSCOW – A Russian pilot was killed in Syria on Saturday after parachutinginto rebel-held territory when his plane was shot down, the Russian defenceministry said.

“A Russian Su-25 aircraft crashed during a flight over the Idlibde-escalation zone. The pilot had enough time to announce he had ejectedinto the zone, under the control of al-Nusra Front fighters,” the ministrysaid, quoted by Russian press agencies.

“The pilot was killed in fighting against terrorists.” It added that“according to preliminary reports, the plane was shot down by a portableanti-aircraft missile system.”

The Russian army claimed it had killed “more than 30 al-Nusra Frontfighters” during a strike with “high-precision weapons” in the area wherethe plane was shot down. The region where the plane crashed is controlledby Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a militant outfit dominated by Al Qaeda’s formerSyrian affiliate.

Forces supporting president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, backed by Russia,launched an offensive at the end of December to recapture the southeasternprovince of Idlib, the last enclave completely out of Damascus’s control.

Opposition groups have in the past shot down Syrian planes, but rarelythose of the Russian army. In August 2016, five Russian soldiers werekilled after their helicopter was shot down by rebel groups in Idlib. InNovember 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian military aircraft, which caused adiplomatic crisis between Moscow and Ankara.