Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Qatari-based Al-Jazeera channel without naming it of “media provocation” after it published a report that a warplane was shot down by the Daesh militant group in Syria’s Raqqa on Thursday afternoon. Igor Konashenkov, Russian defence ministry spokesman, said: “The information claiming that a Russian fighter was shot down over the city of Raqqa is untrue.”
“The alleged information broadcasted by the Qatari channel about the Islamic State’s [Daesh] downing of a Russian air force plane in Raqqa city in Syria is just media provocation,” Russia Today reported Konashenkov as saying.
The Al-Khaleej Online news site said it had monitored Al- Jazeera channel’s news line and official social media accounts and noted that the channel did not say to whom the warplane belonged.
According to the news site, the channel reported local sources as saying that members of Daesh brought down a warplane near Raqqa.