In Syria, a Russian Sukhoi-25 fighter jet was shot down in a rebel-held area of Idlib province yesterday. The Russian Defence Ministry said, the pilot had ejected into an area believed to be controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, formerly linked to Al-Qaeda. <br/><br/>It said, the pilot survived the crash, but he was killed in a ground fight.<br/>The Syrian government, backed by Russian air power, launched a major offensive in December against rebel groups in Idlib. Monitoring groups said, there had been dozens of Russian air strikes in the area over the previous 24 hours.<br/><br/>