Syrian opposition shot down regime warplane

The Syrian opposition said it had shot down a warplane belonging to the regime forces in the southern countryside of Idlib.

Reuters reported that the plane’s pilot was ejected and captured by the Tahrir Al-Sham group.

The plane was a said to be of a Russian Sukhoi 22 type. The Syrian regime is yet to comment on the incident.

The jet was downed near Khan Sheikhoun, an opposition-held town that was hit by a sarin gas attack in 2017 and is now being targeted in a Russian-backed regime offensive.

Official: Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces to send fighters to Idlib area

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. The war has killed more than 560,000 people, the vast majority by regime-allied forces. The Al-Assad government has used chemical weapons against civilians on scores of occasions, with tens of thousands in prison facing torture and execution. Despite the regime calling for refugees to return to the country, over one million people are still listed as wanted on government databases, with those Syrians who supported the opposition fearing state reprisals.

Russia intervened in the war in Syria in 2015 and helped the regime recapture areas it had previously lost to opposition groups.