Russian helicopter crashes in Syria

MOSCOW

A Russian helicopter crashed in the Syrian town of Homs early Tuesday, killing its two pilots, Russia announced.

According to a Russian Defense Ministry statement, the plane went down at 1:30 a.m. (2230GMT). The statement gave no reason for the crash, and did not say that the copter had been downed.

The bodies of the two pilots were brought to Russia's Latakia base.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to the UN.

Since last October, Russia, which has intervened in Syria on the pretext of fighting Daesh, has targeted moderate opposition groups, along with a handful of Daesh targets.