Syrian Regime Helicopter Crew Captured by Rebels, 1 Killed

Islamist rebels captured four crew members of a regime helicopter which crashed in Idlib province of northwest Syria on Sunday, while a fifth serviceman was killed, a monitor said.

“A regime helicopter was forced to land in the region of Jabal al-Zawiya in the northwest, which is a bastion of (al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate) al-Nusra Front,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence France-Presse.

“Four of the crew were captured and a fifth man was killed by armed men in a neighboring village,” he said.

Pictures provided by the Observatory showed groups of men gathering around a damaged helicopter lying on its side on a rocky hilltop.

Syrian state television confirmed a military helicopter had crashed in Idlib, saying it was due to a technical failure and that search efforts were underway to locate the crew.

Abdel Rahman said two of the servicemen were being held by al-Nusra Front, while the other two were captured by an unknown Islamist group.

At least one more crew member was believed to be on the run, he said.

Regime helicopters are often used to drop crudely constructed barrel bombs on rebel-held areas.

In the southern province of Daraa, opposition fighters and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad clashed in the ancient town of Busra al-Sham, the Observatory said.

At least nine opposition fighters were killed, but the casualty toll on the regime side was not immediately known.

The town has both Sunni and Shiite Muslim residents, with control divided between regime and rebel forces.

Abdel Rahman said opposition groups shelled the Shiite neighborhoods heavily on Sunday, a day after regime forces had shelled rebel-held areas.

A regime helicopter also dropped at least one barrel bomb on the town Sunday, but Abdel Rahman had no immediate report on civilian casualties.