Two military pilots have died after their helicopter crashed near the central Syrian city of Homs early on Tuesday. The accident takes Russia's official combat death toll to seven.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Itar-Tass/M. Lystseva
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Russia's Defense Ministry said the aircraft, a Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter, had not been under fire at the time of the crash.
"According to a report from the crash site, the helicopter was not fired at," the ministry added, saying experts were looking into the reasons for the accident.
The Interfax news agency cited an undisclosed source in the military as saying that the pilots were wearing night-vision goggles and flying in complete darkness over little-known terrain.
"There could have been some kind of obstacle on the flight path that the helicopter crashed into," the source was quoted as saying.
Officials said the bodies of the pilots have been recovered and taken to the Hemeimeem air base on Syria's coast.
Mi-28N helicopters took part in a Syrian government operation to push the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group out of the ancient city of Palmyra last month.
Tuesday's accident takes Russia's official combat death toll to seven. Moscow said five Russian servicemen died while on combat duty in Syria, including the pilot of a warplane shot down by Turkey last November.
In another incident, a special operations officer was killed when he called an airstrike on himself after being surrounded by IS fighters near Palmyra.
Another serviceman committed suicide while on duty in Syria, Russia's Defense Ministry said.
The crash is also the third aircraft Russia has acknowledged losing in Syria. A helicopter sent to rescue the pilots shot down by the Turkish military was destroyed by rebels after landing.
How the Syrian civil war began - and gave 'Islamic State' room to grow
Although the emergence of "IS" prompted international intervention in Syria, the jihadist group entered the conflict late in the game. DW examines how the war created space for this terrorist group to expand.
Image: AP
The "Arab Spring" effect
In 2011, as regimes crumble across the region, tens of thousands of Syrians take to the streets to protest against corruption, high unemployment and soaring food prices. The Syrian government responds with live ammunition, claiming some 400 lives by May.
Image: dapd
Condemnation without consensus
At the urging of Western countries, the UN Security Council condemns the violent crackdown. The EU and US implement an arms embargo, visa bans and asset freezes in the months that follow. With the backing of the Arab League, calls eventually grow for the Syrian president's departure. But not all UN members agree with this demand.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Szenes
Assad refuses to back down
Bashar al-Assad - who has been in power since the death of his father in 2000 - sees his reputation wane with the continuing unrest. He refuses to end decades-long emergency rule, which allows for surveillance and interrogation. Russia backs its ally, supplying weapons and vetoing UN resolutions on Syria multiple times.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Badawi
The opposition gets organized
By the end of the year, human rights groups and the UN have evidence of human rights abuses. Civilians and military deserters are slowly beginning to organize themselves to fight back against government forces, which have been targeting dissidents. More than 5,000 have died so far in the fighting. It will take another six months before the UN acknowledges that a war is taking place on Syrian soil.
Image: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Outside intervention
In September 2012, Iran confirms that it has fighters on the ground in Syria - a fact long denied by Damascus. The presence of allied troops underscores the hesitance of the US and other Western powers to intervene in the conflict. The US, stung by failed interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, sees dialogue as the only reasonable solution.
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Fleeing the conflict
As the death toll nears 100,000, the number of refugees in neighboring countries - such as Turkey and Jordan - hits one million. That number will double by September 2013. The West and the Arab League have seen all attempts at a transitional government fail in the two years of war, watching as fighting spills over into Turkey and Lebanon. They fear Assad will stay in power by any means possible.
Image: Reuters/B. Khabieh
No united front against Assad
Assad has long claimed he's combatting terrorists. But it's not until the second year of war that the fragmented Free Syrian Army is definitely known to include radical extremists. The group Al-Nusra Front pledges allegiance to al Qaeda, further splintering the opposition.
Image: Reuters/A. Abdullah
From brute force to chemical warfare
In June 2013, the White House says it has evidence that Assad has been using sarin nerve gas on civilians - a report later backed by the UN. The discovery pushes US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders toward considering the use of military force. However, Russia's proposal to remove the chemical weapons ultimately wins out.
Image: Reuters
Islamic State emerges
Reports of a new jihadist group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) emerge in the final weeks of 2013. Taking land in northern Syria and Iraq, the group sparks infighting among the opposition, with some 500 dead by early 2014. The unexpected emergence of IS ultimately draws the US, France, Saudi Arabia and other nations into the war.
