Militants shoot down Syrian fighter jet: Monitoring group

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 21 civilians have been killed in a US airstrike near the city of Raqqah and that anti-Damascus militants have shot down a Syrian military plane to the east of the country’s capital.

The UK-based monitoring group said on Monday that the plane crashed some 50 kilometers to the east of Damascus.It noted that it could not confirm if the pilot was dead or alive.

“We have brought down a Syrian jet in Tel Dakwa area in rural Damascus and we are searching for the pilot,” said a spokesman for Western-backed Jaish Osoud al Sharqiya militant group, Saad al Haj.

Meanwhile, pictures which are claimed to be of the plane’s wreckage and its pilot’s remains, have been posted on militant social media sites.

A separate militant group has also claimed to have downed the plane after hitting it with anti-aircraft weaponry recently supplied by the US.

The group added that the plane had crashed some 15 kilometers to the east of Bir Qasab between Tal Dakwa and Dumair airport.