Syrian Air Force warplane goes down in eastern Suwayda

This file photo shows a Syrian fighter jet firing missiles.

The Syrian military said one of its Soviet-built jet fighter aircraft has crashed in the country’s southernmost province of Suwayda, where Syrian government forces, backed by fighters from allied popular defense groups, continue to gain ground in their fight against foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants.

An unnamed military source told privately-owned and pro-government al-Ikhbariya al-Soriyah television news network that an investigation was underway to determine what caused the crash.

The report did not provide any information about the fate of the pilot.

Earlier, a spokesman for Western-backed Jaish Osoud al Sharqiya militant group had alleged that Takfiri terrorists had shot down a Syrian MiG military jet in a desert area near the border with Jordan.

“It was downed in Wadi Mahmoud in eastern Sweida countryside. The wreckage fell in the area and we think the pilot has dropped in a parachute. The search is going on to find him,” Saad al-Haj claimed.

Militant mortar attack kills 5 civilians in Aleppo

Separately, at least four civilians have lost their lives and more than a dozen others sustained injuries, when foreign-backed militants positioned on the western outskirts of Aleppo launched a mortar attack on the city.

An injured Syrian man receives treatment at hospital following a militant mortar attack against al-Akramiya neighborhood of Aleppo, northern Syria, on August 15, 2017. (Photo by SANA news agency)

A medical source, requesting anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that militants fired three mortar shells at al-Akramiya neighborhood of the city, located some 355 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, on Tuesday, leaving four people dead and 17 others injured.

The source added that the body of a little girl was among the victims of attack.

Six civilians killed in fresh US-led airstrike

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least six people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday, when the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group carried out aerial attacks in Syria’s militant-held northern province of Raqqah.

The Britain-based monitoring group said 579 civilians, including at least 133 minors, have lost their lives in US-led aerial attacks against the city of Raqqah between June 5 and August 15.

Additionally, another 16 civilians, including 3 children, were killed in raids on the village of Zour Shamar and another area on the eastern outskirts of Raqqah.

The US-led airstrikes have also injured hundreds of citizens, of whom some have sustained amputations and permanent disabilities. Dozens of residential buildings and public properties have been destroyed as well.

In this file photo provided by the US Air Force, an F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to launch airstrikes in Syria. (Photo by AP)

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. 

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

The city of Raqqah, which lies on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by Daesh terrorists in March 2013, and was proclaimed the center for most of the Takfiris’ administrative and control tasks the following year. 

It is estimated that a population of 300,000 civilians is trapped inside Raqqah, including 80,000 displaced from other parts of Syria. Thousands have fled in recent months, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs believes about 160,000 people remain in the city.

On June 6, the US-backed militiamen from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had launched an operation aimed at pushing Daesh out of Raqqah.