Russia strikes back as Syrian rebels take credit for shooting down fighter jet, killing pilot

al Q elements shot down a Russian jet. The pilot survived the crash, but was killed in a shoot-out with the enemy.

Russia has so far killed 30 enemy in retaliation. I expect that number to rise.

Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility Saturday for the downing of a Russian warplane in northern Syria, apparently using a surface-to-air missile to target the aircraft.

The pilot was killed after he ejected and exchanged gunfire with militants on the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry and a monitoring group said.


Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a powerful rebel alliance that publicly split from al-Qaeda last year, said it had used a shoulder-fired weapon to down the Su-25 fighter jet as it flew low over the opposition-held town of Saraqeb.



That claim was
echoed by Russia’s Interfax news agency, quoting the Defense Ministry, as well as the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


The incident could raise tensions between Russia and Turkey, which is monitoring a so-called “de-escalation zone” in the northern province of Idlib as part of an agreement made during Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.