DAMASCUS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian military officer on Tuesday denied opposition report of rebel downing a Syrian warplane in the southern region.
In a phone call with Xinhua, the Sweida-based officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no warplane was shot down Tuesday by rebels in Sweida countryside in southern Syria.
Earlier in the day, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said the rebels shot down a Syrian warplane in a desert area.
The rebels of Jaish Usud al-Sharqiyeh, or the Army of Eastern Lions, which are active in the Syrian Desert, targeted the warplane over an area between the countryside of the southern province of Sweida and the countryside of the capital Damascus, it said.
The area is near a ceasefire zone agreed upon recently between Russia and the United States in southern Syria.
There has been no official response from the Syrian government about the incident.
