Syrian opposition forces on Thursday (August 30th) claimed they shot down a government fighter jet, amid continuing violence in the country, AFP reported.
"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," Col. Afeef Mahmoud Suleiman, who heads the Free Syrian Army in Idlib, told AFP.
Suleiman said the two pilots who parachuted from the plane were captured and that opposition forces are now in "full control" of the airport.
Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said opposition forces took over parts of the airport, which they say has been used to bomb local areas.
According to the Observatory, after the alleged downing of the plane, regime forces retaliated by shelling the area, killing eight children, nine women and at least three other people.
Other violence in the country on Thursday included fierce fighting in areas of the cities of Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Damascus, the group said.
The violence came as the foreign ministers of UN Security Council member countries prepared to meet in France to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, UN humanitarian spokesperson Clare Doyle said the UN's fund for aid efforts in Syria has raised only half the $180 million it originally appealed for.
"Funding is urgently needed," she said.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated in June that three million Syrians are "food insecure". Production of medicines and drugs has come to a standstill, the wheat harvest is estimated to be 1.4 million tonnes below target and aid agencies say there are now water shortages.
The United Nations is also calling for another $193 million to support its drive to help refugees outside Syria. Donations of $103.8 million have been received so far, Doyle said.
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READER COMMENTS
رياض
2012-8-31
Oh God, who may help the innocents who are killed with no mercy and I do not know what the civil society organizations or the observers that we always hear about in various media are doing and where are the United Nations and Kofi Annan who failed his task in this regard?.
مجيد عبدالخالق
2012-8-31
Bashar has committed atrocities against the unarmed civilians, caused the destruction to the Syrian people and destroyed their hopes for a better future. What Bashar did to Syria, such as the heinous crimes against humanity, suggested that Bashar is a psychopath and sadist who receives pleasure from killing, torturing and committing massacres against humanity. Bashar the tyrant ruler, who killed a lot of the Syrian people, destroyed the Syrian State and blasted its wealth, is a corrupt governor that must receive the appropriate punishment so that he would respect the traditions, the values, the norms, and regulations. Bashar, the rotten, unjust and tyrant governor, must be eliminated as he oppressed, forced and hardened the Syrian people. Bashar the unjust tyrant, who did much corruption, must be eliminated and the Syrian State must be developed. The unjust, tyrant and corrupt governor Bashar must be eliminated. Bashar Al-Assad, the illegal governor of the State of Syria, must step down and return to the ranks of the country to be tried as a murderer and be executed to cleanse the heinous crimes committed against humanity. The Syrian human must be protected from the oppression and injustice. Humanity is suffering very severely from the injustice and oppression of Bashar Al-Assad. Bashar, the corrupt governor who did not fear his Lord when he killed his people, must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity because he killed and lied. The free Syrian people are on the way to freedom, democracy and the human justice, and will not deviate from this path whatever happened because the human life is very important and killing is a major crime.
رفعت خليل
2012-8-31
Syria, which is a great Arabic State that played a significant role in the Arabic Renaissance, is the ancient historical State that has a historic role. Syria had witnessed a prosperous era during the Islamic governance days and achieved a renaissance and evolution in the various sciences and arts as well as in the different social, economic and human development areas. However, after al Assad, the father came to power and before his death paved the way for his son Bashar to receive power and rule the country. Because Syria needed political reforms in all matters where there is no freedom, no human rights, there is no democracy, and there is no social justice, Syria, the ancient State, had been subjected to an authoritarian dictator governor that ruined the political, economic and social life of Syria. Syria, the major State that experienced an unjust ruling and all these circumstances, had paved the way for the revolution in Syria against a brutal and unjust regime. When the peaceful revolution in Syria started, demanding freedom, social justice and the natural evolution of the society, the regime of Bashar al Assad practiced the brutal and tyrannical repression system against the brave Syrian people and carried out murder and revenge by atrocities and committing heinous crimes against humanity, murdered, tortured, and changed the regular army to gangs that kill and spoil in the country due to the violence against the Syrian people and the repression, and the arbitrary and brutal killings against the Syrian people, until when the regular army individuals separated from the army.
حسين روؤف
2012-8-31
The international community must take more positive steps to protect the Syrian people who are exposed to the worst kinds of torture by the forces of the regime through the imposition of a no-fly zone that would help the free army as well as to find safe corridors for the Red Crescent to reach the wounded, take aid to the refugees, and support the Syrian case through the media.
فواد هادي
2012-8-31
The Syrian people must be protected as they are helpless and powerless. Everything they wanted is to live dignified lives prevailed with justice, equality and social justice. Also, the Syrian people must be protected from what happens to them such as oppression, devastation and destruction to the country.
ulv
2012-8-31
What is happening in Syria now and all the time does not only call for condemnation, but also call for the immediate action to save the lives of these people, folks, and citizens in our beloved Syria. We have to move if not to save the elderly and men, and if this is not desirable or unwelcomed by our religion, and Islam calls for the participation and the help of your brother the Muslim in the various parts of the Earth, it will not limit this only to your compatriots as we are all Muslims whether Syrians, Egyptians, Lebanese, or Iraqis. We are all one for Allah the Almighty and He did not specify a certain sect. What happens in Syria now by the hands of Bashar Al-Assad and his associates is that the beloved Syria's Army is paid by the Syrian people with their food. Also, they are drinking from their blood and sweat. How could they do that to the people who gave them food, drink and clothing, and even paid attention to their families and their children? How could they bring a gun in the face of those who provided them with all of that? It is known that he who provides all of that is not Bashar Al-Assad but rather the Syrian people who pays from their living for this army! How could they do this to them?
سوريا الحرة
2012-8-31
The Syrians asked help from all the international community and the Security Council to protect them from Bashar Al-Assad. This is what we see every day in all the visual, audible and readable channels. Despite all these appeals, nothing occurred to the Syrians and the demand of protecting them. Every day, we hear about explosions and dead men and women, children and elders. We hear and understand, and we have nothing to do but pray as we are like them, we have no power. Therefore, we resorted to the holy Hadith saying if you could not at least with your words and if you could not at least with your heart, then this is what we are able to do. However, the responsibility completely belongs to the Security Council that is held every period without resulting in something meaningful and also, the responsibility rests on the Arabic League headed by Dr. Nabil Elaraby who is known for his competency, and whom everyone has been waiting for to do something towards Syria. But everything they found was a clear retardation that the Syrians themselves pay its price while they are looking for their victims amid the rubble. They mourn them in mass funerals and they are then protected from Bashar and his soldiers. They come to them during the funeral and they do not care about the dead and his inviolability. They shot them with missiles and fire guns and bombs. Also, those who mourned in funerals became dead themselves. All of this led the Syrians to request international protection for them and the international community as a whole must respond to them and respond to their demands. Does the international community want to alert us that it could not do anything for Syria?