syria5 400ATME: Syrian rebels shot down a fighter jet in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, a monitoring group and a military defector said.

 

"The rebels shot down the fighter jet in the west of Aleppo province, where fierce battles are taking place," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "The jet was bombarding the village of Khan al-Asal."

 

A defected military officer in the province confirmed the reports, adding that the MiG jet was shot down some 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Aleppo, scene of fierce battles since July 20.

 

Amateur video shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed groups of people gathering around a pile of embers, and smoke rising from the scene, as men fired their weapons into the air in celebration.

 

It also showed the tail of a fixed-wing aircraft, blackened by fire and broken off from the body of the plane.

 

"God is greatest," people shouted.

 

"People celebrate when planes are shot down because they are used to bombard civilian areas," said Abdel Rahman.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.