Islamic State 'captures Syrian pilot'

A news agency affiliated with Islamic State says the jihadist group has shot down a Syrian warplane and captured the pilot.

Syrian Civil War

A Syrian army warplane is seen as attacking to Dareyya district, in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on November 08, 2015. Source: Getty Images

Islamic State fighters have captured the pilot of a Syrian warplane which crashed southeast of Damascus, a news agency affiliated to the militant group says.

"The pilot, called Azzam Eid, from Hama was captured after he fell by parachute near the site where his plane crashed east of Damascus," the news agency Amaq said on Friday.

Citing a Syrian military source, Russian news agency Interfax said the plane belonged to the Syrian Air Force and crashed because of a technical fault.

"The plane had recently undergone repairs... there was no attack from the ground. It crashed because of a technical fault. The pilot ejected," Interfax quoted the source as saying.

Interfax said the plane was a Mig-23.

A video shared online by Amaq says the plane was shot down by the jihadist group on Friday.

The footage showed Islamic State fighters around burning plane wreckage, part of which had a Syrian flag painted on it.

Reuters could not independently verify the video.

Earlier on Friday Islamic State said a Syrian warplane had been shot down, but did not specifically claim responsibility.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the plane crashed in the southeast Damascus countryside after flying over territory controlled by Islamic State.

It said the fate of the pilot was not known.

The Observatory said earlier it was not clear if it had been brought down by gunfire or suffered a technical fault.


Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world