Russian Helicopter Shot Down in Syria, Killing Five on Board

“I don’t have information; we don’t have information about how the operation is proceeding”, Peskov said. “Our hope again is that by the end of this month we’ll have intra-Syrian talks going”.

However, a “cessation of hostilities” that began in February has now all but unraveled. “We’re told it’s about 15km from where the helicopter went down in rebel-held territory”. USA officials have suggested that a Russian and Syrian “humanitarian operation” for the besieged city of Aleppo is a ruse to evacuate civilians so that their forces can go after militants in the city who oppose Assad’s rule. The Assad regime denied any involvement, although most observers believe his regime was responsible for the attack.

The Russian military has announced that an attempt of about 5,000 extremists to launch an offensive southwest of Aleppo, Syria, had been prevented. We were told of an attack that happened last May, also in Saraqeb.

Ahmad Jalal, a fighter in Jaish al-Islam, confirmed the escalation of the efforts to drive back government forces, saying that rebels have attacked al-Ramosa neighbourhood, a stronghold of government forces and militias loyal to Assad.

Monitors at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence on all sides in the civil war, said barrel bombs fell on Saraqeb late on Monday, wounding a large number of citizens.

The footage was seemingly taken in the first few moments after the helicopter crashed in Idlib province on Monday.

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. But video uploaded by opposition activists showed a rocket pod next to the wreckage.

More than 280,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee their homes since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011.

He says the Russians “died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground”.

Three crew and two officers were returning to Hmeimim base in Idlib province when the helicopter was brought down by ground fire.

The news agency Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing representatives of Syrian opposition forces that on the night after a Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter was shot down, some helicopter allegedly dropped containers with toxic gas on a township near the place of the disaster. That was reported by opposition activists.

Although no rebel groups have officially claimed responsibility for the attack, it is likely it was shot down by rebel forces.

A photo taken on 1 August, 2016 reportedly shows Syrian rebels gathered round the wreckage of the downed helicopter.

Advertisement

Fighting has intensified in Aleppo in recent days as government forces target residential areas in the eastern, rebel-held parts of the city with air strikes.