A Russian helicopter was shot down by Syrian rebels, killing three crew members and two officers who were on board, Moscow and a Syrian opposition news agency announced Monday.
The incident marks the single deadliest incident for Russia since entering the civil war in Syria.
"Those who were on the helicopter, according to information coming from the Defense Ministry, have died," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement according to the state-run RIA news agency.
The helicopter had crashed in Idlib, near the southern border of Aleppo province. Russian officials said the Mi-8 helicopter was returning to the Russian air base Khmeimim after it had just dropped off humanitarian aid to the besieged city of Aleppo. The aircraft was shot down by rebel troops on the ground trying to break the siege on Aleppo City.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility. Photos were posted online of a badly burned body being dragged and put in the back of a truck. The body is reportedly one of the crew members.
AP reported that videos uploaded moments after the crash show that the helicopter appeared to have broken up as it crashed. One video showed a rocket pod next to the burning wreckage, and people standing near the wreckage were seen taking cellphone video and shouting God is great in Arabic.
Russia escalated its military involvement in the Syrian civil war in September 2015 to help President Bashar al-Assad stay in power. Russian air bombings have helped Assad’s forces, with help on the ground from Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, retake territory from rebel forces, including groups backed by the United States.
Many Syrian rebels have said that Russia is indiscriminately bombing the country, targeting terrorists as well as civilians and U.S.-backed forces.