Syria's military shoots down US drone over Latakia province, state media reports
Updated 18 March 2015, 16:20 AEDT
The Syrian military has shot down a US drone over government-controlled territory in north-west Syria, state media claims.
The United States lost contact with a MQ-1 Predator drone over Syria on Tuesday. (Credit: ABC licensed)
The Syrian military has shot down a US drone over government-controlled territory in north-west Syria, state media has reported.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said the country's air defences "brought down a hostile US surveillance aircraft over north Latakia", but did not provide further details.
The US military confirmed that it had lost communication with an unarmed Predator drone over Syria and was looking into the claims the plane was shot down.
If confirmed, it would be the first time that Syrian forces have shot down an American aircraft since the US-led coalition began raids against the Islamic State group (IS).
While Syria is not participating in the air strikes, it has so far refrained from taking action against aircraft involved in the coalition's operations to take out the extremist group.
Damascus has said it was given prior warning before the coalition began the strikes, and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said last year that Washington had pledged its raids would not hit the Syrian army.
The campaign has also hit positions believed to belong to fighters affiliated with Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian wing of Al-Qaeda.
Al-Nusra fighters are active in the province of Latakia, which is home to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's family's ancestral village.
In December, a Jordanian pilot involved in coalition air strikes was captured by IS militants after his warplane came down in north-east Syria.
The militants released a video in February showing the pilot being burned alive.
The reports of Tuesday's incident came as activists said Syrian regime forces carried out an attack using chlorine gas in the north-western province of Idlib, killing six people.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in January it had "confidence" that chlorine gas had been used in attacks on three villages in 2014.
It did not assign responsibility, but its report noted that witnesses heard helicopters before the attack, which only Syrian government forces possess.
AFP/Reuters
* Gas attack kills six in Syria: activists
* France says Assad talks would be 'scandalous gift' to IS
* Islamic State using chlorine bombs as Iraqi offensive stalls
* UN condemns Syria chlorine attacks
* Jordanian warplanes blast Islamic State targets
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