Breaking News: Russian helicopter shot down over Syria,five killed

A Russian military helicopter was shot down Monday over Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, killing all five people on board, the Kremlin has said. The defense ministry was quoted as saying that an Mi-8 military transport helicopter was downed after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo and heading back to Russia’s main air base in the western province of Latakia. The defense ministry said the helicopter was carrying two officers and three crew members, all of whom were killed. “As far as we know from the information we’ve had from the defense ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimize victims on the ground,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cited by AFP. It is not clear which group brought the helicopter down. An alliance of rebel groups hold control over Idlib. Russian forces have been supporting President Bashar al-Assad’s government against rebel fighters since last September.