The helicopter came down near the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, roughly mid-way between Aleppo and the Russian air force base at Khmeimim, near the Mediterranean coast.
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Aleppo is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, with the eastern part of the city, held by Islamist rebels, under siege by government forces. Russian identity documents purportedly taken from the helicopter could also be seen.
A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war.
The shelling comes after rebel groups launched an offensive Sunday in a push to try to break the siege that has choked that sector.
Earlier, the ministry said the helicopter had been shot down but that the fate of the five three crew members and two officers was unknown.
“From what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died”, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman told journalists. It is unclear who is responsible.
In July, two Russian pilots were killed when their helicopter was shot down east of the city of Palmyra by Islamic State.
Abdel Rahman said opposition fighters from the Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, and allied Islamists were struggling to hold positions they had seized.
At a news conference in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry said the US would press on with a multi-month effort to prod Syrian President Bashar Assad and moderate opposition groups into a lasting truce and talks on a unity government.
But government troops backed by Russia’s air force have put up a fierce defence, the monitor said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday called on Russian Federation and its Damascus ally to restrain “from conducting offensive operations” in Aleppo, where regime forces surrounded rebel-held districts.
Opposition activists said intense fighting was still ongoing in Aleppo on Monday. Taking a detour from the north would be too unsafe, he added.
“Almost all of the time, from the moment of the announcement of the target date until today, has been consumed by trying to get a cessation of hostilities in place that is meaningful”, Kerry said, implicitly acknowledging the failure to meet the roadmap so far.
A rebel source in Jaish al Fatah said they had deployed around 10,000 troops, at least 95 tanks and several hundred rocket launcher vehicles in a three-stage battle they gave the name of the “great epic battle of Aleppo”. “If they lose, it will be hard for them to launch a new assault to break the siege”, Abdel Rahman said.
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The Syria Civil Defence claimed the gas was dropped in containers last night in rebel-held territory. The army confirmed on state media that rebels had begun an offensive but said its fighters had pushed them back from an air force artillery base.
