Suspected Islamists Shoot Down Military Jet

 

                      On Tuesday, September 16, a Syrian war plane was shot down by Islamic State fighters. According to information provided by Reuters, plane was shot down in the suburbs of Raqqa city, which is 250 miles (400 km) northeast of Damascus. It is reported that the crash occurred during the air strikes on the territory controlled by the group.


A photograph posted on a jihadist Twitter account purported to show the burnt-out wreckage of the plain.
“Allahu Akbar (God is great), thanks to God we can confirm that a military aircraft has been shot down over Raqa,” another account said, congratulating the “lions of the Islamic State.”
The Britain-based monitor said: “It is the first aircraft shot down since the regime launched air strikes against the jihadists in July following their declaration of a caliphate in late June.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which gathers information from a network of activists reported about five air raids on Raqqa on Tuesday.
Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the organization, cited sources close to Islamic State as saying the plane had been shot down.
“Further north Islamic State clashed with Kurdish fighters near Syria’s border with Turkey, in fighting which killed dozens of people on both sides.”
The clashes took place outside the Kurdish city of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, in an area where Kurdish fighters have been fighting off Islamic State attacks for months.
The development comes in parallel with a similar situation in Nigeria. The contact with a jet fighter of the Nigerian Air Force was lost a couple of days ago, when the military aircraft was flying over Boko Haram-controlled are.

The Syrian air force has been bombing Islamic State-controlled territory in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor on a near-daily basis since the group seized the Iraqi city of Mosul in June.
In recent weeks it has repeatedly targeted the group’s Euphrates valley strongholds in Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces and jihadist-held areas of the northeastern province of Hasakeh. An air strike on an ISIS training camp in the Deir Ezzor town of Tibni killed 17 militants and a child on Saturday.
Monday’s (September 15) anti-ISIS summit in Paris, France, left more questions than answers. The United States keep building a coalition aimed at defeating the most powerful and wealthy terrorist group in the word. Currently, up to 40 states, including 10 Arab countries may join it. At the same time, such powerful players in the region as Turkey and Iran do not really want to become a part of this alliance.