A monitoring group and a rebel source said the pilot was captured by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been tracking the fighting in Syria, said earlier that al-Suri, along with his son, were killed in an airstrike in a village northwest of the city Idlib.
Accordingly, the group seized the pilot who ejected from the plane near the town of al-Eis in an area south of the embattled city of Aleppo.
Syria’s Assad regime on Tuesday admitted that one of its warplanes had been shot down over the countryside of the northern Aleppo province. They have been denied access to high-end missiles by their Gulf state backers due to USA pressure, for fear they might get into the hands of jihadist groups.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites, said Abu Firas al-Souri died in USA strikes while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jets were thought to belong to the Syrian or Russian Air Forces.
Meanwhile, the Syrian forces advanced on Qaryatayn, which Daesh had been using to attempt to cut Homs off. Dozens of extremist fighters were said to be killed or captured.
It said in a written statement that Turkey’s views had been sought and its approval given for the air strikes, which were carried out at 3 a.m.
Last month, rebels denied a report from the Russian Defence Ministry, claiming that an anti-aircraft missile had been used to shoot down a Syrian warplane in Hama province.
The so-called proximity talks between Assad’s envoys and representatives of the opposition adjourned last month after almost two weeks during which de Mistura shuttled between the delegations.
Both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS) group are designated as terrorist groups by the United Nations and were excluded from a truce that has been in place since March.
The Nusra Front was implicated in shelling the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo, Tuesday. The Observatory said 14 were killed.
Ahrar Al Sham is allied with Al Nusra across swathes of northern and north-west Syria in a coalition called “Army of Conquest”.
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The state media has yet to comment on the incident. According to a field report, the Syrian Air Force’s bombardment killed as many as 25 Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jund Al-Aqsa militants, including 8 high-ranking field commanders inside Kafr Jalis.
