Syrian fighter jet apparently downed, pilot believed rescued: monitor

AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian jet plane was probably shot down on Thursday by Islamic State militants near a military airport in southern Syria but the pilot appears to have been rescued, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had received information that the hardline group had hit and may have brought down a Syrian plane near Khalkhala airport, north east of the city of Sweida. Earlier Amaq, a news agency close to the militants, said in a newsflash it had downed a Syrian army plane in the vicinity of the same airport. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Toby Chopra)