Helikopter Militer Rusia Ditembak Jatuh Pemberontak Suriah
Russian Chopper Downed Five Dead is Blasted Out the Sky over Syria
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
SEBUAH helikopter bantuan militer Rusia ditembak jatuh di Suriah dan dikhawatirkan kelima awak helikopter tewas.
Helikopter Mi-8 helikopter ditembak jatuh oleh para pemberontak di utara negara Suriah setelah mengirim pasokan ke warga sipil di kota Aleppo.
Kementerian pertahanan Rusia mengkonfirmasi kecelakaan pagi ini.
Foto-foto helikopter naas muncul di media sosial yang diunggah oleh para pemberontak bersenjata yang memperlihatkan mayat hangus korban diseret melalui padang gurun.
Dalam salah satu video yang mengerikan, seorang pemberontak tampak melompat-lompat di punggung jasad tentara Rusia.
Jasad lain yang setengah telanjang terekam video sedang dinaikkan ke belakang sebuah truk pick-up.
Foto lain memperlihatkan barang-barang pribadi milik para awak helikopter, termasuk kartu identitas, menyiratkan ada awak wanita di helikopter militer tersebut.
Pasukan Rusia melakukan serangan udara pada berbagai kelompok pemberontak yang menentang Presiden Suriah Bashar al-Assad.
Sampai berita ini diturunkan belum dikonfirmasi kelompok mana yang menjatuhkan helikopter, yang kembali ke pangkalan Hmeimim di provinsi Idlib.
Sebuah pernyataan Kremlin mengkonfirmasikan kematian mengatakan para awak heli "gugur sebagai pahlawan".
Juru bicara Dmitry Peskov mengatakan: "Sejauh yang kami tahu dari informasi yang kami peroleh dari kementerian pertahanan, kru helikopter tewas, mereka meninggal dengan heroik, karena mereka mencoba menghindari helikopter jatuh di pemukiman penduduk."
Wilayah Idlib adalah kubu Front Islamis Al-Nusra - kelompok yang terkait erat dengan Al-Qaeda.
Mereka baru-baru ini mengumumkan perpisahan mereka dari Al Qaeda dalam upaya untuk menangkal serangan udara lebih lanjut dari pasukan sekutu.
Kecelakaan mematikan itu terjadi sejak Presiden Vladimir Putin memerintahkan serangan udara terhadap lawan Al-Assad September lalu.
Sejak itu, pilot pesawat tempur tewas ketika pesawatnya dijatuhkan di perbatasan Turki November lalu.
Seorang tentara pasukan khusus dielu-elukan sebagai "pahlawan" setelah ia disebut dalam serangan udara pada dirinya sendiri ketika ia dikelilingi oleh pejuang ISIS dekat kota Palmyra.
Dan bulan lalu dua pilot tewas ketika ISIS menembak jatuh sebuah helikopter dekat kota kuno, seperti dilansir The Sun.
A RUSSIAN aid helicopter has been shot down over Syria with all five crew feared dead.
The Mi-8 transport chopper was brought down by rebels in the north of the country after delivering supplies to embattled civilians in the city of Aleppo.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed the crash this morning.
Images have begun to emerge on social media of armed rebels dragging the charred bodies of victims through the desert.
In one sickening video, a rebel appears to jump up and down on the back of a dead Russian.
Another half-naked body was filmed being loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck.
Photos emerging of personal belongings, including identification, appeared to suggest there was one woman on board.
Russian forces have been carrying out air strikes on various rebel groups opposed to embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
It has not been confirmed which group brought down the helicopter, which was returning to Hmeimim base in the Idlib province.
A Kremlin statement confirming the deaths said the crew had "died heroically".
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground."
The Idlib region is a stronghold of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front - a group closely-aligned with Al-Qaeda.
They recently announced their split from Al Qaeda in a bid to ward off further air strikes from allied forces.
The crash is Russia's deadliest since President Vladimir Putin ordered air strikes against Al-Assad's opponents last September.
Since then, a fighter jet pilot was killed when his plane was brought down on the Turkish border last November.
A special forces soldier was hailed as a "hero" after he called in an air strike on himself when he was surrounded by ISIS fighters near the city of Palmyra.
And last month two pilots were killed when ISIS shot down a helicopter near to the ancient city.
