The Islamic State has captured the pilot of a Syrian aviation war plane, which crashed south-east of Damascus, a few hours ago. The pilot, Azzam Eid, was captured after launching with a parachute east of Damascus, in the area controlled by the caliphate forces. No further details were provided.
It is the sixth aircraft lost in 40 days. We were the first to fear the beginning of the MANPADS era and to keep track of the aircraft lost during the start of this second phase of the war (which coincides with the end of the first Russian phase not by chance).
The first aircraft shot down the 12 last March when a Syrian Air Force MIG-21 was shot near the village of Kafr Nabudah, in the Hama area. The rebels of the Jaysh al-Nasr group claiming the slaughter that would have used two short-range missiles transportable on their shoulders.
The second aircraft shot down on April 5, when a Sukhoi-22 of the Syrian air force was hit near Aleppo by a single missile launched by the al-Nusra group.
A Sukhoi-22 of Syrian air forces took off from al-Dumayr airport, the 11 April was shot down in the suburbs of Damascus. It is confirmed that the Islamic State has used a missile Lightning-2. Despite the modest performance of the system, such as poor maneuverability and precision, the missile hit the target.
The dynamics that involved the Mi-28N attack helicopter crashed on Homs ten days ago are shrouded in mystery. Moscow does not issue any details, but concerns remain.
The fifth aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile near Khalkhala airport, northeast of the city of Sweida, in southern Syria. The missile would have been launched by militants of the Islamic State who claimed the felling. The pilot should have been rescued and recovered by loyalist forces.
We are six aircraft (five confirmed, for the sixth there are many doubts) demolished in forty days. The Syrian context has evolved for some time, with singularities rewritten for countermeasures already in place.
