The fate of the Russian servicemen was unknown.
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A Russian military helicopter carrying five people was shot down in the north of Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province today, the Russian defence ministry said. Last month ISIS shot down a helicopter being piloted by two Russian officers; both were killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says all five aboard the Russian helicopter downed in Syria have been killed. The Russian Defence Ministry has maintained that it was a technical fault and that it wasn’t shot down by Syrian rebels.
The Monday deaths bring the number of Russians who have died as part of Moscow’s intervention in Syria up to 18, according to Agence France-Presse.
An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people remain trapped in the rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo.
Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.
The primary goal of the rebel assault is to seize the Ramussa neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Aleppo.
The Observatory put the toll at six dead, including three women and a child.
CNN sources in Aleppo believe residents aren’t using the corridors much out of fear of what the government might do to those fleeing. He said that 82 militants also have put down weapons. According to reports in Russian Federation, the helicopter provided assistance to Assad’s forces in the city of Aleppo.
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Russian Federation and Syria announced the opening of what they called humanitarian corridors for civilians and rebels wanting to surrender, but few people are reported to have used them, fearing they would be targeted.
