Syrian rebels have shot down a Russian warplane and killed its pilot in the north-west of the country during fierce fighting with the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his foreign backers.



The Russian defence ministry confirmed the Su-25 was shot down and said the pilot was killed fighting “terrorists”. Preliminary information suggested a portable ground-to-air missile was used to hit the plane in an area under the control of al-Qaida’s Syrian link, the ministry’s Zvezda TV reported.



The pilot was shot when he opened fire with a pistol on rebels trying to capture him alive, a rebel told Associated Press.

The Syrian opposition shared images purporting to be the man’s bloodied body lying beside a rock, along with video of the wreckage in flames beside village houses where it had landed. Some parts including the wings were apparently thrown further on impact and were shown still intact.



Opposition sources said the plane was attacking civilian convoys fleeing along a nearby highway, where Russian air attacks were blamed for seven deaths and scores of injuries, Reuters reported.

Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad, in 2015 launched a military campaign to bolster his embattled government. Its warplanes and helicopters helped turn the tide of the war and drive rebels from strongholds across the country including Aleppo.

Both Assad and his allies have been attacked for the brutal nature of that air campaign, which has targeted civilians and infrastructure including hospitals and schools.

Opposition groups have in the past shot down Syrian planes, and in August 2016 rebel groups in Idlib shot down a Russian helicopter, killing five Russian soldiers who were on board.

At least seven Russian planes were also destroyed by rebel shelling at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria on 31 December, Russian media reported.

Soon after the Su-25 was shot down on Saturday afternoon, Moscow retaliated with a strike that killed more than 30 militants in the area, Tass news agency said.

The fighting unfolded near the rebel-held town of Saraqeb, which Syrian government troops have been trying to reach under cover of airstrikes. They are pushing towards a key highway that connects Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s two largest cities.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported more than 35 airstrikes on Saraqeb since late Friday and said that many residents were fleeing the area.

The UN said more than 270,000 people had been displaced in Idlib since mid-December as a result of the government’s offensive.

Overall more than 11 million people have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands killed since anti-Assad protests escalated into civil war in 2011.