BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebels announced Monday that they had brought down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time, posting a video as what they said was proof, while the United Nations said it had removed a third of its observers in advance of its mandate expiring later this month.
The rebels said they shot down the jet early on Monday in the eastern city of Deir Ezzour, according to activists. A 33 second video released by the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network based in different areas, shows a jet rushing across the screen until it suddenly bursts into flames.
Both developments — three weeks into a ground battle for Aleppo, and as fighting spreads in Damascus, Dara’a and other areas — highlight the conflict’s recent spiral away from diplomacy and toward widening war.
After 17 months, Syria is being defined by confrontation, said General Babacar Gaye, Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria, with no end in sight.
“It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria,” General Gaye said, noting that fighting had forced United Nations observers to leave Aleppo. “The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the Government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians.”
General Gaye strongly condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for using heavy weapons, which now include jets firing on at least three cities, according to rebels. And he urged Mr. Assad’s government to trade its military mind-set for “a mind-set of dialogue.”
That seemed unlikely anytime soon. On Monday, fighting continued in at least a half dozen areas, with fierce battles raging in Aleppo, as clashes and shelling in Damascus coincided with what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a described as “large scale raid” throughout the capital by Syrian troops who detained at least 21 people.
In Aleppo, activists reported fighting in Salahaddiin, the most contested neighborhood which the government said it retook from the rebels last week, and in other areas of the city. At least two groups took responsibility for bringing down the fighter jet.
The label on YouTube vide said a group called “The Youth of the Land of the Euphrates” was responsible, though a commenterary on YouTube also described it as “the downing of a MiG 23 by the Grandsons of Mohammed Brigade.”
It is not clear how or why the plane exploded. No missile could clearly be seen in the video, and it is possible that some kind of technical error on the plane itself was responsible for the crash. However, rebels have been clamoring for antiaircraft weapons for weeks, and there have been unconfirmed reports over the past two weeks suggesting that Turkey had passed shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to the rebels.
These claims have not been independently verified. But if the rebels managed to successfully fire on and destroy a Syrian fighter jet, it could signal a major shift in a war that has been defined by the inequality of force with the Syrian military outgunning the opposition at every turn.
“It’s a military turning point,” said Sami Nader, an analyst in Lebanon, on his Facebook page.
Rebels and activists, sharing the video widely online, described it as a significant achievement. “It’s a big operation a big blow to the regime,” Abu Rawan, a commander with the Free Syrian Army in the province in Homs. “It means the FSA is strong and because we can down these kinds of planes, we can institute a no fly-zone without international support.”
The rebel claims came after Syrian jets fired on areas in and around Aleppo again on Sunday, continuing an escalation of force that has led activists and rebels to demand that foreign forces establish a no-fly zone to counter the government’s air superiority.
Over the weekend, the United States and Turkey discussed a variety of measures to aid the opposition to President Assad, including a no-fly zone, though no decisions were reached.
While the fighting raged in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, the Syrian authorities on Sunday reported two bomb attacks in Damascus, the capital.
The bombings occurred in the Marjeh district of Damascus, suggesting the rebels were still active in the capital and were increasingly turning to explosives in their evolving guerrilla campaign. Last week, a bomb tore through Syria’s state television headquarters; a month ago, an explosion killed four senior military and intelligence officials.
No one was wounded in the attacks on Sunday, Syria’s state news agency said. The first blast was set off remotely as soldiers passed by in a vehicle. The device was hidden under a tree about 100 yards from the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, The Associated Press reported.
The second blast went off around the same time near a soccer stadium half a mile away. Both explosions were followed by gunfire “to provoke panic,” the authorities said.
Also on Sunday, Al Arabiya, an Arabic news channel, reported that a journalist working with it was killed on Saturday by a bomb in a suburb north of Damascus. The journalist, Bara’a Yusuf al-Bushi, was a defector from the Syrian Army who worked with several international news organizations. Syria’s state news agency said Sunday that one of its journalists had also been killed, a day after reporting that, in a separate episode, rebels had kidnapped the members of one of its television news crews.
The weekend’s events highlighted the risks that journalists in Syria face as the government tries to limit access and as the rebels and Mr. Assad’s government put a premium on propaganda. Over the course of the war, there have often been conflicting accounts of events, most of them difficult to verify independently.
This year, the Committee to Protect Journalists identified Syria as the third “most censored” country in the world, just behind North Korea.
More recently, the number of foreign reporters entering the country has increased, and news agencies like Reuters have found ways to establish what seems to be a full-time local presence. But as that presence has expanded, so have the risks. Several reporters moving in and out of Aleppo have recently described close calls as the Syrian military has shelled the city and, lately, attacked it with fighter jets.
In a video released on Sunday, one of the rebel brigades in the capital said that Syrian troops had launched two attacks in an effort to free dozens of Iranians kidnapped by the brigade last week. Iran says the captives are pilgrims who were in Damascus to visit a Shiite shrine, but the rebels say their hostages (45 are left after three were killed by shelling) are Iranian agents.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Antakya, Turkey.
The rebels said they shot down the jet early on Monday in the eastern city of Deir Ezzour, according to activists. A 33 second video released by the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network based in different areas, shows a jet rushing across the screen until it suddenly bursts into flames.
Both developments — three weeks into a ground battle for Aleppo, and as fighting spreads in Damascus, Dara’a and other areas — highlight the conflict’s recent spiral away from diplomacy and toward widening war.
After 17 months, Syria is being defined by confrontation, said General Babacar Gaye, Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria, with no end in sight.
“It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria,” General Gaye said, noting that fighting had forced United Nations observers to leave Aleppo. “The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the Government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians.”
General Gaye strongly condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for using heavy weapons, which now include jets firing on at least three cities, according to rebels. And he urged Mr. Assad’s government to trade its military mind-set for “a mind-set of dialogue.”
That seemed unlikely anytime soon. On Monday, fighting continued in at least a half dozen areas, with fierce battles raging in Aleppo, as clashes and shelling in Damascus coincided with what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a described as “large scale raid” throughout the capital by Syrian troops who detained at least 21 people.
In Aleppo, activists reported fighting in Salahaddiin, the most contested neighborhood which the government said it retook from the rebels last week, and in other areas of the city. At least two groups took responsibility for bringing down the fighter jet.
The label on YouTube vide said a group called “The Youth of the Land of the Euphrates” was responsible, though a commenterary on YouTube also described it as “the downing of a MiG 23 by the Grandsons of Mohammed Brigade.”
It is not clear how or why the plane exploded. No missile could clearly be seen in the video, and it is possible that some kind of technical error on the plane itself was responsible for the crash. However, rebels have been clamoring for antiaircraft weapons for weeks, and there have been unconfirmed reports over the past two weeks suggesting that Turkey had passed shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to the rebels.
These claims have not been independently verified. But if the rebels managed to successfully fire on and destroy a Syrian fighter jet, it could signal a major shift in a war that has been defined by the inequality of force with the Syrian military outgunning the opposition at every turn.
“It’s a military turning point,” said Sami Nader, an analyst in Lebanon, on his Facebook page.
Rebels and activists, sharing the video widely online, described it as a significant achievement. “It’s a big operation a big blow to the regime,” Abu Rawan, a commander with the Free Syrian Army in the province in Homs. “It means the FSA is strong and because we can down these kinds of planes, we can institute a no fly-zone without international support.”
The rebel claims came after Syrian jets fired on areas in and around Aleppo again on Sunday, continuing an escalation of force that has led activists and rebels to demand that foreign forces establish a no-fly zone to counter the government’s air superiority.
Over the weekend, the United States and Turkey discussed a variety of measures to aid the opposition to President Assad, including a no-fly zone, though no decisions were reached.
While the fighting raged in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, the Syrian authorities on Sunday reported two bomb attacks in Damascus, the capital.
The bombings occurred in the Marjeh district of Damascus, suggesting the rebels were still active in the capital and were increasingly turning to explosives in their evolving guerrilla campaign. Last week, a bomb tore through Syria’s state television headquarters; a month ago, an explosion killed four senior military and intelligence officials.
No one was wounded in the attacks on Sunday, Syria’s state news agency said. The first blast was set off remotely as soldiers passed by in a vehicle. The device was hidden under a tree about 100 yards from the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, The Associated Press reported.
The second blast went off around the same time near a soccer stadium half a mile away. Both explosions were followed by gunfire “to provoke panic,” the authorities said.
Also on Sunday, Al Arabiya, an Arabic news channel, reported that a journalist working with it was killed on Saturday by a bomb in a suburb north of Damascus. The journalist, Bara’a Yusuf al-Bushi, was a defector from the Syrian Army who worked with several international news organizations. Syria’s state news agency said Sunday that one of its journalists had also been killed, a day after reporting that, in a separate episode, rebels had kidnapped the members of one of its television news crews.
The weekend’s events highlighted the risks that journalists in Syria face as the government tries to limit access and as the rebels and Mr. Assad’s government put a premium on propaganda. Over the course of the war, there have often been conflicting accounts of events, most of them difficult to verify independently.
This year, the Committee to Protect Journalists identified Syria as the third “most censored” country in the world, just behind North Korea.
More recently, the number of foreign reporters entering the country has increased, and news agencies like Reuters have found ways to establish what seems to be a full-time local presence. But as that presence has expanded, so have the risks. Several reporters moving in and out of Aleppo have recently described close calls as the Syrian military has shelled the city and, lately, attacked it with fighter jets.
In a video released on Sunday, one of the rebel brigades in the capital said that Syrian troops had launched two attacks in an effort to free dozens of Iranians kidnapped by the brigade last week. Iran says the captives are pilgrims who were in Damascus to visit a Shiite shrine, but the rebels say their hostages (45 are left after three were killed by shelling) are Iranian agents.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Antakya, Turkey.