Russian journalists injured by shelling near Turkish-Syrian border while

Russian airstrikes over the past five days have destroyed 1,000 tankers of stolen crude oil the Islamic State (IS) group was moving in the countryside of Syria’s northern province of al-Raqqa, state news agency SANA reported on Monday.

Two war reporters for Russian Federation Today have been injured after their press convoy was shelled on the Turkish- Syrian border.

The pair were passing through the village of Al-Dagmashliya in the province of Latakia, an area controlled by President Bashar Assad’s forces. The aircraft was said to be searching for the crash site of the Russian fighter jet shot down by Turkey.

Shattered glass and rocks can be seen flying across the screen as the person holding the camera appears to frantically climb out the auto, with shouting heard in the background. Three were lightly injured and one shell-shocked.

U.S.-backed Syrian rebels, the Free Syrian Army, are claiming to have taken down a Russian rescue helicopter with a TOW anti-tank missile, according to several reports. Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad confirmed that Syrian Army strikes, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, were being carried out against armed terrorist organizations, not political opposition factions or civilians.

They were being treated at Khmeimim air base near Latakia, where Russian forces are based.

“The targeting of the Russian journalists is a desperate attempt by the terror groups to hid the truth from the public opinion, which has become aware of the role and nature of such terrorist groups”, al-Zoubi was cited by SANA as saying.