AMMAN: Rebels shot down a Syrian warplane and captured its pilot on Tuesday in an area south of Aleppo where insurgents are battling the Syrian Army and allied militias, a monitoring group said.

Syria’s military confirmed that a plane on a reconnaissance mission had been shot down and said it was hit by a surface-to-air missile. The pilot had bailed out and efforts were underway to rescue him, it said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters from Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front group captured the pilot and took him to one of their headquarters in the area. There was no immediate rebel comment on the use of an anti-aircraft missile.

The Observatory said a plume of smoke was seen as the plane caught fire before it fell in the Talat Al-Iss highland, where Al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels have come under heavy bombardment by Syrian and Russian planes since they captured the area this week.

Videos on social media also showed footage of an aircraft and pictures of the wreckage of a burnt plane surrounded by rebels.

Officials in three rebel groups contacted by Reuters reiterated previous statements that that plane had been shot down with anti-aircraft guns. A fragile “cessation of hostilities” truce has held in Syria for over a month as the various parties try to negotiate an end to the five-year-old civil war.