Free Republic

A Russian pilot was killed Saturday after his warplane went down over Syria's northwest province of Idlib and he clashed with Islamists on the ground, Russia's defence ministry and a monitor said. "The pilot was killed as he fought Islamist rebels who had shot down his plane and were taking him captive," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman. According to the British-based monitor, the Sukhoi 25 was shot down over the town of Maasran in Idlib and the pilot came down in a parachute.

A Russian warplane was shot down Saturday in Syria, according to Russian state-run news agencies. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed one of its Su-25 warplanes was downed in Idlib province in northwest Syria, state media outlet RIA Novosti reported. Militants shot down the plane in an area controlled by al-Nusra Front fighters, according to the RIA Novosti report. Russia and Turkey, which is responsible for a de-escalation zone in Idlib, were taking measures to return the pilot's body, the defense ministry said. The ministry said more than 30 militants in the area were killed in a retaliatory strike, according...

Russian warplanes hit a key rebel supply route to Aleppo on Sunday in Moscow's first strikes on Syria's battleground second city since a February ceasefire, a monitoring group said. "The Russian and Syrian warplanes together carried out at least 40 air strikes on the Castello road," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. "They are the heaviest air strikes there since February, and they are also the first confirmed Russian strikes since the truce began," Abdel Rahman said.(Snip)The Castello road is a key supply route for rebels leading north out of Aleppo.