An Iranian news agency claimed on Thursday that General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations wing, was behind the rescue of the Russian pilot downed in Syria. 
 
 Soleimani was reported lightly injured earlier this week near Aleppo. 
 
 After the pilot was downed by Turkey on Tuesday, “credible information was obtained that a number of special Turkish units had been sent to the scene to take the Russian pilot captive to blackmail Russia later,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reported, basing the claim on a report in the Persian-language version of the Russian Sputnik news agency. The Russian agency, in turn, quotes an unnamed Syrian officer. 
 
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 “While the Russians were planning for another operations to free the pilot immediately,” said Fars, “General Soleimani contacted them and proposed them that a special task force unit be formed of Hezbollah’s special forces and Syrian commandos who have been trained by Iran and are fully familiar with the geographical situation of the region to be tasked with the ground operations and Russia provide them with air cover and satellite intelligence.” 
 
 The alleged operation to rescue the Russian pilot in Syria was carried out by eight Hezbollah fighters, 18 Syrian commandos and covered by Russian satellites and air force, the report continued. The team “saved the pilot after infiltrating 6km behind the enemy lines, killing the terrorists operating in there and destroying their hi-tech equipment,” it said. 
 
 “Soleimani promised them to return the Russian pilot safe and sound; a promise that was kept in the end, according to the Syrian officer,” the report said. 
 
 Moscow’s defense minister said Wednesday that Russian and Syrian special forces had freed the second pilot of a Russian warplane shot down by Turkey and he was now at a Russian air base in Syria. The first pilot was killed when fired at from the ground after the plane was hit. 
 
 “The operation ended successfully. The second pilot has been brought to our base. He is alive and well,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. 
 
 The Fars News Agency further reported that “General Soleimani is fully healthy and is actively commanding operations in the frontline of the war against terrorists.” 
 
 Soleimani was reported hurt in Syria on Sunday. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, Rameza Sharif, said Tuesday that Soleimani was “in perfect health and full of energy.” 
 
 “He helps the Islamic resistance in Syria and Iraq,” Sharif added, according to SepahNews, the official site of the Revolutionary Guards. 
 
 Last month, a US official said some 2,000 Iranian or Iranian-backed forces were participating in the regime’s Aleppo operations. 
 
 Iran has not officially acknowledged sending troops to Syria, but says it has “advisers” on the ground assisting regime forces. 
 
 Iran-backed Hezbollah also acknowledges its forces are fighting on the ground, and the presence of Iranian, Iraqi and Afghan “volunteers” has been documented. ||||| Damascus (AFP) - Syrian special forces launched an operation "behind enemy lines" to rescue the surviving crew member of a Russian warplane downed by Turkey, Syria's Al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday. 
 
 "Eleven members of an elite unit of the air force intelligence service and a (Russian-language) translator, led by an officer, infiltrated 3.5 kilometres (two miles) behind enemy lines in the Al-Atira region on Tuesday and recovered the airman," the pro-government newspaper said. 
 
 Al-Atira is an area of Latakia province, around 12 kilometres (eight miles) from the border with Turkey. 
 
 Syrian forces launched the operation after Turkey downed the Russian jet on Tuesday morning, forcing the two-man crew to eject over rebel-held territory. 
 
 According to Al-Watan, the team set out in late morning from the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, where Russian forces are concentrated. 
 
 The plane's pilot had already been killed by rebel fire as he parachuted down but a Russian drone spotted navigator Konstantin Murakhtin in hiding on the ground. 
 
 The "Russian drone communicated to Syrian special forces the navigator's location, as well as where the terrorist groups were," Al-Watan said, referring to the rebels. 
 
 "He was spotted thanks to his GPS. It was a race against time because the terrorists were also looking for him." 
 
 The paper said the special forces team used the codeword "Costa" for Konstantin, and the Syrian flag to identify themselves to the navigator as rescuers. 
 
 It said the rescue team clashed with rebels during the 12-hour operation, but were able to recover Murakhtin, who was injured in the leg. 
 
 Speaking to Russian state media on Wednesday, the navigator gave no details of his rescue, which the Russian military said involved its own special forces working alongside Syrian troops. 
 
 "I feel good in general. The military doctors work miracles," he said, speaking at the Hmeimim base. 
 
 "I am waiting impatiently to be released by the doctors so I can immediately return to service." 
 
 Russia has not released the name of the slain pilot, although President Vladimir Putin has said he will posthumously be given Russia's highest award for valour, the Hero of Russia medal. 
 
 His body is believed to still be in the hands of rebel forces in Latakia province. 
 
 Murakhtin is also to be decorated along with soldiers involved in the rescue operation, including one Moscow has said was killed when his Mi-8 helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing after being hit by gunfire.
– How exactly did a Russian pilot make it out of enemy territory alive after his plane was shot down by Turkish jets? He was helped by the commander of foreign operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, according to an Iranian news agency. The Fars New Agency—citing a Russian agency, which quotes an unnamed Syrian officer—said on Thursday that "credible information was obtained that a number of special Turkish units had been sent to the scene to take the Russian pilot captive to blackmail Russia later," per the Times of Israel. So Iran's General Qassem Soleimani put forth a plan: He proposed that eight members of Hezbollah's Special Forces and 18 Syrian commandos trained by Iran move in on the ground, with Russia providing "air cover and satellite intelligence," per the agency. Russia agreed. The team "saved the pilot after infiltrating [about four miles] behind the enemy lines, killing the terrorists operating in there, and destroying their hi-tech equipment," the agency said. Syria's Al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday that "11 members of an elite unit of the air force intelligence service" and a Russian translator recovered Konstantin Murakhtin two miles behind enemy lines in the Al-Atira region, about eight miles from the border with Turkey, after he was spotted hiding on the ground by a Russian drone, per AFP. "He was spotted thanks to his GPS. It was a race against time because the terrorists were also looking for him," the paper said. Murakhtin injured his leg during the 12-hour operation, but "I feel good in general," he told Russian state media on Wednesday. "I am waiting impatiently to be released by the doctors so I can immediately return to service."