Syrian rebels shoot govt. warplane, gunmen kidnap ICRC workers

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian rebels said they shot a government warplane on Sunday, Oct 13, near the southern city of Deraa along the border with Jordan but the plane was able to make an emergency landing at a nearby military airport, the Associated Press reported.

They said fighters used anti-aircraft machine guns to hit the plane in a rural area near the southern city of Deraa, where Syria's uprising against Assad erupted in 2011 after it was flying low over rebel held territory.

The fighter jet, which is the second to have been hit this month in the same border area, was spotted going down but safely landing in the Thala airport close to the city of Sweida, they added.

"Our anti-aircraft machine guns shot the plane that had been on a reconnaissance flights from the morning," said Abdullah Masalmah, a rebel fighter from the Liwa al-Tawheed al-Jonoob brigade.

The AP says there were no reports of the incident on Syrian state media.

Meanwhile, according to BBC news, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said gunmen abducted six of its workers and one Red Crescent volunteer in north-west Syria.

The aid agency has had no contact with the gunmen, an ICRC spokesman said.

Earlier, Syrian state media said gunmen opened fire on Red Cross staff travelling on the Sirmin-Saraqeb road in Idlib province.

The ICRC said it has been struggling to gain access across Syria to provide aid to injured and displaced people.

"I am able to confirm that six ICRC staff members and one Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer have been abducted near Idlib in north-western Syria," ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson told Reuters. "We are calling for their immediate and unconditional release of this team which was delivering humanitarian assistance to those most in need - and we do that on both sides of the frontlines."

He declined to reveal the identity, gender or nationality of the abducted workers.

Syrian state news agency, SANA, earlier quoted an unnamed official as saying the workers were abducted and taken to an unknown location after gunmen blocked their path and shot at their convoy.