Syrian strikes Damascus suburb after pilot killing

Heavy regime bombardment of a rebel-held Syrian town yesterday killed more than 30 people including two medical staff, as a two-year local truce broke down.

The raids attest to intensifying violence in Syria despite international efforts aimed at bolstering a nationwide ceasefire between government forces and non-jihadist rebels.

Yesterday's shelling hit the town of Jayrud, 60 kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Damascus, where the army said Islamist militants killed a regime pilot after he was forced to eject on Friday.

In a statement, the military had pledged that the attack on its pilot "will not go unpunished".

Sources said artillery fire and air strikes on the town killed at least 31 people including two medics. It was not immediately clear how many were civilians.

Anti-regime groups in Jayrud include the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), the hardline Ahrar al-Sham, and al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

He said the town is home to some 60,000 people and that the bombardment had not stopped since early yesterday.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster.

Meanwhile, a Pentagon official on Friday said a US-led coalition air strike killed Islamic State's deputy minister of war and a military commander in Mosul on June 25.

The strike near Mosul killed Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, the deputy minister of war, who oversaw the militant group's capture of Mosul in 2014, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The other Islamic State member killed in the strike was Hatim Talib al-Hamduni, a military commander in Mosul, Cook added.