Syria warplane crashes, killing and wounding many

BEIRUT • A Syrian military aircraft crashed while on a bombing run over the rebel-held north-western town of Ariha yesterday, leaving at least 31 people dead.

The provincial town of Idlib fell to a coalition of Islamist insurgents in May, according to the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, which added that the jet was not shot down.

Ariha was the last town in Idlib province to fall to the rebels.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a network of opposition activists, posted an image online of what it said was the aftermath of the crash, showing huge damage to the marketplace and surrounding buildings. The United Nations says the war has killed more than 220,000 people and wounded at least 1 million.

This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Ariha Today, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows parts of a destroyed government warplane that crashed in the center of the town of Ariha, in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, Monday, August 3, 2015.

Other unofficial reports from pro-government Syrian news websites said the plane crashed due to a malfunction.

“It was flying at a low altitude when it had a mechanical failure”, SOHR chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Local activist Ibrahim al-Idlibi, speaking to AFP via the Internet, said the blast was caused by the remaining rockets and bombs on the plane.

The first known U.S. air strikes to support U.S.-trained rebels took place Friday when a group of forces came under fire from Nusra Front militants in northern Syria.

The 72 hours of clashes killed at least 73 rebels and 42 regime forces, including Hezbollah fighters and members of the National Defense Forces militia allied with the government, he told AFP.