Syrian warplane shot down over Aleppo, regime admits

ALEPPO, Syria

Syria’s Assad regime on Tuesday admitted that one of its warplanes had been shot down over the countryside of the northern Aleppo province.

The admission came after armed opposition factions had announced earlier the same day that they had managed to down a regime fighter plane.

On Tuesday afternoon, the regime's official SANA news agency quoted an unnamed military source as saying that a regime warplane had been "struck by a surface-to-air missile while carrying out a reconnaissance mission over Aleppo, causing it to crash".

Earlier Tuesday, armed opposition factions said they had succeeded in downing a Su-22 warplane over Aleppo’s southern Al-Eis district.

Local sources told Anadolu Agency that opposition fighters had targeted the warplane -- which had been conducting airstrikes in Al-Eis -- with heavy machinegun-fire, causing it to crash in opposition-held territory.

The same sources said the pilot had ejected from the doomed plane and descended by parachute before being detained by opposition fighters, who, they claimed, had taken him to a hospital for treatment.

Syrian opposition forces captured the strategic Al-Eis district earlier this week after fierce battles with regime forces and pro-regime militias.

For the last several weeks, Aleppo’s southern countryside has seen fierce fighting between regime forces and armed opposition factions.