- The Sukhoi 25 is reported to have crashed in the north-western province of Idlib
- Its pilot is reported to have been captured on Saturday after it came down
- It is not clear which rebel faction may be holding him after he parachuted
- Jihadist groups are known to operate in the area of the crash
Rebel fighters is Syria say they have shot down a Russian plane over the north-western province of Idlib on Saturday and taken its Russian pilot captive.
‘Rebel factions shot down a Sukhoi 25. The Russian pilot came down in a parachute, before being captured,’ said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He could not immediately confirm which faction had shot down the warplane but hardline opposition factions and the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are active in the area.
Meanwhile a Syria peace congress hosted this week by Russia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi has been snubbed by Syria’s main opposition and the Kurds.
It agreed on the creation of a commission to discuss the country’s post-war constitution.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the meeting, said the United Nations would lead efforts to form the commission.
A copy of the final statement, seen by AFP in Arabic, did not mention the fate of Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement quoted by state news agency SANA, a source in Syria’s foreign ministry said the talks in Sochi were ‘the cornerstone of the political process and solid base upon which dialogue will be launched from now on’.
Around 1,400 delegates attended Tuesday’s meeting, as part of a broader push by regime-backer Moscow to consolidate its influence in the Middle East.
But the main opposition group, the Syrian Negotiations Committee, boycotted the meeting as did representatives of Syria’s Kurdish minority.