Syrian plane shot down by Turkish army, pilot killed

Bombings of the Damascus regime on Binnish near the city of Saraqeb in Syria, March 2, 2020. MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

Syrian regime fighter plane was shot down on Tuesday (March 3rd) by the Turkish army in Idleb province in Syria, where heavy fighting is between soldiers from the two countries, an NGO said in the death of the pilot .

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A Syrian army plane was shot down in northwestern Syria, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. It was an L39. This Syrian fighter plane was targeted by an F-16 of the Turkish army in the province of Idleb where heavy fighting between Syrian and Turkish soldiers. It is the third Syrian army plane shot down by Turkish aviation since Sunday.

The pilot ejected but died, added the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), without being able to say whether he had succumbed to his fall or whether he had been killed by the insurgents . His body was found mutilated in the rebel-controlled region of Deir Sounbol, according to the OSDH.

Turkish drone shot down

For its part, the Syrian army shot down, according to the Syrian official agency Sana, a Turkish drone near the city of Saraqeb in the south of Idleb. This province is the last great rebel and jihadist stronghold located in the northwest of the country at war.

Turkey, which supports the rebels, deployed this Sunday March 1, its troops in this last jihadist stronghold. An offensive launched after heavy losses: 30 Turkish soldiers were killed by air strikes attributed by Ankara to the Syrian regime last week.

Bashar al-Assad is determined to take over the Idleb region. With the support of his Russian ally, he has already reconquered half of the province, according to the OSDH. The death toll amounts to more than 470 civilian victims and has led to the exodus of a million civilians massed on the border with Turkey . Turkey has already received more than 4 million refugees, mostly Syrians, on its soil.

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  • Syria
  • Turkey
  • European Union
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan
  • Bashar al-Assad

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