IS downs Syrian war jet over Deir al-Zour

The Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday downed a Syrian war jet over the country's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the first war jet the terror group has managed to shoot down since it had captured large swathes of land in that oil-rich province, a monitoring group reported.

The Syrian war jet was seen falling on a mountain overlooking Deir al-Zour after it was shot by the IS, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that the Syrian air force carried out over 20 airstrikes against the IS positions in Hwaijat al-Saqer at the outskirts of Deir al-Zour since midnight.

At least 16 IS fighters were either killed or wounded by the airstrikes, according to the report.

Separately, at least 25 Syrian troopers were killed a day earlier in an ambush by the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other likeminded groups in the town of Zabdin in the eastern countryside of the capital Damascus. It said the ambush had hindered the troops' advancement in that rebel-held area.

The Syrian crisis has been dragging on for over three and a half years with no sign of tapering down. The crisis has become more complicated when the radical groups capitalized on the chaotic situation in order to achieve territorial gains. Over 190, 000 have so far been killed while millions of others sought refuge in neighboring countries. Enditem