Russian military helicopter shot down in Syria

A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war. The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime’s siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city. Russia’s defence ministry announced the downing of the helicopter, which it said was carrying three crew and two officers. “A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo,” the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.