Iraq News

Opposition groups say they shot down Syria warplane near ceasefire zone

Opposition groups shot down a Syrian government warplane on Tuesday (July 11th) near a ceasefire zone in the country's south, AFP reported.

Two rebel groups that operate in south-east Syria, the Lions of the East Army and the Ahmad al-Abdo Forces, issued a joint statement on Tuesday saying they had downed the aircraft.

"The plane was shot down and crashed in regime-controlled territory. We have no information on the pilot," said Fares al-Munjed, communications head for the Ahmad al-Abdo Forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor confirmed that the rebel groups had hit the plane near a village on the administrative border between the provinces of Rural Damascus and Sweida.

Sweida province is part of a new ceasefire deal negotiated by the US, Russia, and Jordan that went into effect on Sunday.

The deal has brought relative quiet to most of the provinces covered -- Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida -- though outbreaks of violence have been reported.

In Sweida, government forces launched an attack on Monday on the Ahmad al-Abdo Forces and the Lions of the East Army.

Fighting continued into Tuesday over a series of hilltops and villages in the province, the Observatory and opposition groups said.

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