BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say they've shot down a government warplane over a northern province (Idlib.)
It's the second time in a week that opposition fighters have claimed to have brought down an aircraft in the escalating civil war.
Two activist groups say the plane was seen crashing near an air base. One activist based in the region says the rebels shot it down with heavy machine guns.
A video broadcast on Al-Arabiya shows what appears to be a person parachuting and rebels cheering and claiming he was the pilot. The video's authenticity could not be verified.
The government has not commented and the report could not be independently confirmed. But a brief video clip posted by a rebel group shows the body of a man in an olive-green pilot overall with an apparent head wound. A short distance away lay what appears to be a white parachute.
The video is dated today, and could also not be independently verified.
