Syrian opposition fighters on Tuesday downed an Assad regime warplane in the eastern countryside of Hama province.
According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent in the nearby Idlib province, Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces in Idlib managed to strike the warplane while it was conducting airstrikes in Hama's eastern countryside and on Idlib's southern outskirts.
"A regime L-39 warplane was hit near the villages of Abu Dali and Al-Qaryatayn by antiaircraft batteries," Mustafa al-Hussein, a spokesman for the FSA-affiliated Free Idlib Army, told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Hussein added that regime warplanes have been carrying out attacks in the same region for the last several days, resulting in numerous civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the Assad regime army confirmed the incident.
Photos of the warplane's captured pilot -- the authenticity of which has yet to be confirmed -- have since been circulated on social-media platforms.
The western central province has seen intense aerial strikes by the Russian and regime air forces in the country's civil war. Dozens of civilians have been killed in the bombing of towns away from front lines in the last few weeks, according to rescue workers and witnesses.
