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Turkey-Backed Fighters Down Regime Chopper in Syria

A Syrian regime helicopter bursts in flames after it was shot by a missile in Idlib province on Tuesday. (AP)
A Syrian regime helicopter bursts in flames after it was shot by a missile in Idlib province on Tuesday. (AP)
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Turkey-Backed Fighters Down Regime Chopper in Syria

A Syrian regime helicopter bursts in flames after it was shot by a missile in Idlib province on Tuesday. (AP)
A Syrian regime helicopter bursts in flames after it was shot by a missile in Idlib province on Tuesday. (AP)

Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters shot down a regime helicopter west of Aleppo in Syria's northwestern Idlib region, where violence and displacement has spiked in recent weeks, Turkish and Syrian state media said on Friday.

An opposition military source and eyewitnesses told Reuters Russian jets had been targeting areas in the countryside west of Aleppo earlier on Friday, but they evacuated back to the city after the helicopter was downed.

The Turkey-backed National Front for Liberation claimed responsibility, saying it was avenging the killing of civilians. Videos posted online show a helicopter spiraling downward from the sky, with flames trailing behind as onlookers cheer.

The helicopter was struck as it flew over the front lines after leaving Aleppo, which is controlled by the regime, Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists on the ground, said the helicopter was downed Friday in the village of Qibtan al-Jebel, north of Aleppo city. It said two crew members were killed and their bodies were found near the site of the crash.

The Observatory said the helicopter was shot down by Turkish military forces stationed in the opposition-held region.

Ankara acknowledged the incident in a statement but did not claim responsibility. Opposition factions downed another regime helicopter on Tuesday near the town of Nairab, to the south.

A military official told Syrian state media that Friday’s helicopter was hit by a “hostile rocket” in the western countryside of Aleppo province. The unnamed official said the helicopter crashed and its crew was killed.

Syria's military has used helicopters to drop rudimentary barrel bombs on opposition areas throughout its campaign to reclaim territory. Rights groups have documented and criticized their use in the nine-year war.

Turkey's military has sent additional arms and troops to Idlib, on its southern border, to confront a push by Russia-backed Syrian regime forces to retake the country's last major opposition stronghold after nearly nine years of war.

The Syrian Observatory war monitor said on Friday that Turkey had deployed around 6,500 soldiers to reinforce existing units in northwest Syria, as well as some 1,900 military vehicles since early February.

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Drone Strike Targets Port Sudan Naval Base 

A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Drone Strike Targets Port Sudan Naval Base 

A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025. (Reuters)

A drone strike targeted Sudan's biggest naval base on Wednesday, an army source told AFP, marking the fourth straight day the seat of the army-backed government has come under attack.

It comes a day after the government severed ties with the United Arab Emirates, which it accuses of supplying rival paramilitaries with weapons used to attack the army.

Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast had been a safe haven, hosting hundreds of thousands of displaced people and United Nations offices, until Sunday when drone strikes blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries began.

Wednesday's drone strikes "were met with anti-aircraft missiles", the army source said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An AFP correspondent reported a series of explosions from the direction of the Flamingo Base, just north of the city.

Later Wednesday, residents reported air defenses in action against drones circling above the city.

War has raged since April 2023 between Sudan's regular armed forces and the RSF.

- 'Major escalation' -

Nearly 600 kilometers (375 miles) further south, "three drones attempted to strike airport facilities" in the army-held eastern city of Kassala on Wednesday, near the border with Eritrea, a security source said.

Witnesses told AFP they heard explosions from anti-aircraft missiles west of the city, which has also come under repeated attack this week.

In the city of Merowe in Northern state, around 420 kilometers from Khartoum, residents reported drones overhead being intercepted by anti-aircraft fire.

Nationwide, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million.

It has also effectively split Sudan in two, with the army controlling the center, north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.

The RSF has not directly commented on this week's attacks on Port Sudan, about 650 kilometers from its nearest known positions on the outskirts of the capital.

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called the drone strikes a "major escalation (that) could lead to large-scale civilian casualties and further destruction of critical infrastructure".

Port Sudan is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan, and Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the attacks "threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country".

Famine has been declared in some areas in Sudan and nearly 25 million people are suffering dire food insecurity.

The UN also has warned of more "human suffering in what is already the world's largest humanitarian crisis".

- 'Advanced weaponry' -

French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Wednesday its services in the northern River Nile state have been disrupted after drone attacks targeted a power plant in state capital Atbara.

The attacks caused a major power outage and affected the city's water treatment plant, disrupting access to clean water and risking a surge in waterborne diseases such as cholera, MSF said.

The attacks also scaled down production at the state's oxygen concentration factory, which provides health facilities with oxygen tanks.

MSF said such attacks on infrastructure "have a devastating impact on the health of the local communities" and harm "an already overburdened health system".

The drone campaign comes after the RSF in March lost control of nearly all of greater Khartoum.

The army-backed foreign ministry described the attack on Port Sudan as "a full-fledged crime of aggression", which it said was carried out with "strategic drones and advanced weaponry".

Sudan has accused the UAE of supplying the RSF with the weapons it has used to strike Port Sudan.

The UAE has repeatedly denied arming the RSF.

On Wednesday, it rejected the severing of ties, saying the decision was made by an administration that "does not represent the legitimate government of Sudan".