ISIL fighters shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Az Zor, the group's Amaq news agency reported on Sunday.

"A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed.

US air raid on Syrian army post sparks Russia tension

Earlier in the day, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that government troops had regained territory in the eastern province lost to fighters affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) "as a result of the American aircraft aggression".

The US military said it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against ISIL in Deir Az Zor on Saturday.

Russia's military said it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 soldiers were killed and more than 100 wounded in the raid in the Jabal Tharda area of Deir Az Zor.

The Observatory said on Sunday the plane came down in the same area, which overlooks the government's Deir Az Zor military airport.

The city's airport and some government-held districts have been entirely surrounded by ISIL since last year, with the airport providing the only external access.

Heavy air strikes over the past 24 hours have hit ISIL-controlled areas near Deir Az Zor city, according to the Observatory and Syrian state media. </s> Islamic State shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, the Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq said on Sunday.

“A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor,” Amaq said in an online statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MIG Syrian warplane was killed. </s> BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Islamic State shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, the Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq said on Sunday.

"A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MIG Syrian warplane was killed. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Mohamed el Sherif in Cairo; Editing by Toby Chopra) </s> (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – ISIS confirmed on Sunday about shooting down a Syrian warplane in Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria.

Media reports, quoting ISIS news affiliate al-Amaq, said, “A fighter jet belonging to the Syrian forces was downed by ISIS in Deir al-Zour.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, “The pilot of the Syrian fighter jet died, indicating that the plane was shot down in Tharde Mount area southern Deir Ezzor air base.”

The Observatory had earlier reported of intense air strikes during the last 24 near Deir ez-Zor. </s> "A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed.

The Observatory said the plane came down in the Jebel Tharda area which overlooks the government's Deir al Zor military airport.

Jebel Tharda is where on Saturday U.S.-led coalition air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated.

The city's airport and some government-held districts have been entirely surrounded by Islamic State since last year, with the airport providing the only external access.

Intense air strikes over the past 24 hours have hit Islamic State controlled areas near Deir al Zor city, the Observatory and Syrian state media said. </s> A Islamist rebel group has claimed responsibility for shooting down a Syrian government fighter jet that crashed on Turkish soil.

Ahrar al-Sham released a video claiming to show the plane being shot down with an anti-aircraft gun, but Bashar al-Assad's military said it crashed due to technical difficulties.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a Syrian government MiG had crashed at the edge of the Amanos mountains near the town of Samandag in Hatay province.

Governor Erdal Ata told the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu that rescue teams had found the wreckage but the cockpit was empty – confirming earlier reports by villagers who say they had seen pilots ejecting.

Mr Ata said there had been no airspace violation and no intervention by Turkish forces.

The crash follows several years of tensions between Turkey and Syria that led to two Syrian helicopters and a MiG jet being shot down for violating Turkish airspace, as well as Russian aircraft flying missions in support of Assad.

A Russian military plane was similarly shot down by Turkey for violating airspace in 2015, leading to months of tension between Ankara and Moscow.

Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist alliance that controls large swathes of Idlib province, claimed the jet it was downed using a 23 millimetre machine gun as it was bombing the countryside in the north-west of the province.

Turkish media said earlier that villagers had called authorities to report the crash at around 6.30pm local time. </s> The Russian Ministry of Defense has released footage of a precision strike targeting terrorists in Idlib, north-west Syria, in retaliation for the earlier downing of an Su-25 jet and the killing of its pilot.

The night-vision footage shows missiles hitting ground targets which are destroyed in a series of fiery blasts. At least 30 terrorists are believed to have been killed in the operation.

On Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that one of its fighter jets was downed in the de-escalation zone in Idlib province. The pilot managed to eject from the aircraft and parachute down safely, but was then killed by militants on the ground, the MoD stated. The ministry is now trying to retrieve his body.

Tahrir al-Sham, the extremist group linked to Al-Nusra terrorists, has claimed responsibility for the downing of the Russian aircraft, according to Reuters.

Earlier, another militant group, Jaysh al-Nasr, which claims affiliation to the Free Syrian Army, also posted videos and statements about the Russian plane on its Twitter account. It said the jet was shot down by some air defense systems.

Like this story? Share it with a friend! </s> Two Russian servicemen have been killed in mortar shelling conducted by Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed.

“The contract soldiers were escorting a vehicle convoy of the Russian Center for Reconciliation,” RIA Novosti reported a ministry official as saying, adding that the convoy was subjected to “mortar shelling by Islamic State terrorists while moving through the Deir ez-Zor province.”

One soldier was killed at the scene while the second one suffered severe injuries in the shelling and succumbed to his wounds in the hospital. Both servicemen were recommended for decoration posthumously, the ministry added.

The incident took place as the Syrian Army pushes forward with its offensive seeking to liberate the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, the capital of the similarly-named province, where the shelling occurred.

The province’s governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters earlier Monday that the governmental forces could break the siege and enter the city as soon as “in 24-48 hours.”

According to some reports, some units of the Syrian Army are just 10 kilometers away from the military base of the governmental forces located in the western neighborhood of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria. “Defeating ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor region and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat of the international terrorist group in Syria,” the ministry said.

The Russian Air Force also intensified its air strikes targeting the terrorists’ positions in the area. The Russian warplanes made 80 sorties over the last 24 hours and “destroyed two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, more than 10 all-terrain vehicles with heavy weapons mounted on them,” the ministry said earlier Monday, adding that 70 terrorists were killed and injured in the air strikes.

In the meantime, the Syrian SANA news agency reported that the Syrian Air Forces successfully destroyed Islamic State headquarters in the Hweika neighborhood in western Deir ez-Zor, killing at least nine commanders of the terrorists. </s> An air strike Thursday evening killed at least 35 civilians, including family members of Islamic State fighters, in al-Mayadin, a town held by the jihadists near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.

Two days of aerial bombardment in al-Mayadin have now killed a total of 50 people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State told Reuters that its forces had conducted strikes near al-Mayadin on May 25 and 26 and were assessing the results.

Residents saw reconnaissance aircraft and warplanes circling the city at 7:25 p.m. (1625 GMT) before they fired missiles, which struck two buildings, one of which was a four-story block housing Syrian and Moroccan families of Islamic State fighters.

In Geneva on Friday, the U.N. human rights chief called on all air forces operating in Syria to take greater care to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians in their escalating air strikes especially in the northeast against Islamic State.

“The rising toll of civilian deaths and injuries already caused by airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor and Al-Raqqa suggests that insufficient precautions may have been taken in the attacks,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement.

His spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva briefing: “There are multiple air forces operating in this part of Syria, including the (U.S.-led) coalition, mainly the coalition. We also understand that there are Iraqi airplanes as well.”

Islamic State is losing ground in Syria and Iraq under assault from an array of sometimes rival forces in both countries. Many of its fighters who have retreated from other fronts are massing in Syria’s Euphrates basin area.

The U.S.-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in air strikes and investigates any that are reported to have taken place.
Amaq News Agency claims ISIL is responsible for shooting down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet over Deir ez-Zor. The London-based SOHR says the MiG pilot was killed.