Updated on
Summary Rebels said they shot down a MiG warplane on Thursday as violence whipped across Syria.
Rebels said they shot down a MiG warplane on Thursday as violence whipped across Syria ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the country and along its borders.Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, meanwhile, caused a storm with a speech at a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, slamming the Damascus regime as oppressive and urging support for the opposition.I can confirm that a MiG was shot down this morning by our men using automatic weapons, shortly after taking off from Abu Zohur military airport in Idlib province, the rebel Free Syrian Army chief for the northern province, Colonel Afif Mahmoud Suleiman, told AFP.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime forces retaliated by shelling the area, and that eight children and nine women were among at least 20 people killed.The rebels are now in full control of the Abu Zohur base, he said. His claims could not be immediately verified.On August 13, rebels claimed they downed of a Russian-made MiG in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, and on Monday rebels said they had shot down a helicopter during fierce fighting in the Damascus suburb of Qaboon.The Syrian regime acknowledged the first two aircraft crashes but put them down to mechanical failures. It has not yet commented on the latest claim.The Syrian Observatory had earlier said rebels took over parts of a military airport in Idlib overnight, and that explosions could be heard from inside the facility.The violence came as a war of words erupted between Egypts Morsi and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in the presence of NAM leaders after their summit began in Irans capital.The revolution in Egypt is the cornerstone for the Arab Spring, which started days after Tunisia and then it was followed by Libya and Yemen and now the revolution in Syria against its oppressive regime, Morsi said in his address.Our solidarity with the struggle of Syrians against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, and a political and strategic necessity, he added.With his delegation walking out in protest, Muallem accused Morsi of using his speech to incite further bloodshed in Syria.
