The turmoil of Islamists in Russia claimed the life of Russian pilot, whose warplane was downed over northwest Syria during the fight on 4th February.
As per the sources, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a powerful jihadist-dominated alliance claimed to have shot down the plane. However, he did not mention anything about the pilot.
“We were able to bring down the Russian warplane with a shoulder-fired missile above Saraqib in Idlib this afternoon,” said the head of HTS’s air defence brigade, Mahmoud al-Turkmani.
The series of fierce bombing campaigns by Russian warplanes over Idlib is said to be the major reasons of this attack.
Headed by Al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has idlib under its control. It is looking forward to wage a ferocious Russian-backed assault by Syrian government troops.
The burnt remains of the downed plane were found by an AFP correspondent on arriving at the crash site. A number of fire-fighters came to the rescue for putting out the flames.
As per the Defence Ministry of Russia, the pilot of the Su-25 aircraft shot down over Idlib province was killed “in fighting against terrorists.”
“A Russian Su-25 aircraft crashed during a flight over the Idlib de-escalation zone. The pilot had enough time to announce he had ejected into the zone,” the defence ministry said.
“The pilot was killed in fighting against terrorists,” it said, quoted by Russian agencies.
It added that “according to preliminary reports, the plane was shot down by a portable anti-aircraft missile system.”
The US State Department has shown deep concern at reports of such a weapon being used.
As a matter of fact, there are more than 2,000 troops inside Syria working with anti-Jihadist Kurdish and Arab fighters, and flies air strikes against the Islamists in Washington.
Reportedly the jet was downed near the town of Saraqib in Idlib. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the pilot parachuted to the ground.
Furthermore, the Britain-based Observatory claims that the pilot was killed in a combat with the rebels as they tried to take him hostage.
“There have been dozens of Russian air strikes in the area over the past 24 hours. This plane was also carrying out raids there,” said Abdel Rahman.
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