REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DAMASCUS -- Communication with Syrian war jet was lost while the warplane was on a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish borders on Saturday, state TV reported. The report said the search for the pilot is ongoing, spelling no further details.

Meanwhile, the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sham movement said its rebels fired at a Syrian MiG-21 in the northern countryside of Idlib near the Turkish borders. A video posted online also purported to show the warplane while being shot at by Ahrar al-Sham.

Activists said that after being shot, the warplane continued to fly toward the Syrian-Turkish borders, adding that the plane may have crashed over the Turkmen Mountains in Syria's Latakia province.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier that a Syrian military jet has crashed near the Turkish-Syrian border. "There is information that a MiG modeled plane estimated to be belonging to the Syrian regime crashed in the (southern province of) Hatay," he said, adding that the pilot is said to have jumped from the plane, and search efforts are ongoing.

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