A Syrian government helicopter has been shot down by Turkish-backed rebel groups in western Syria amid spiralling tensions in the region. Two other rebel commanders confirmed anonymously that they had fired the missiles which took down the helicopter. Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, are attempting to seize control of Idlib, which is one of the last rebel-held strongholds in Syria. On Tuesday, government and allied forces retook the Rashideen al-Rabea area near Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that all attacks on Russian and Syrian government forces in Idlib had to stop and that a Russo-Turkish deal on northeast Syria had to be implemented.

Source: Daily Mail February 11, 2020 11:52 UTC