Islamist rebel fighters down Syrian aircraft near Aleppo battle front

A missile apparently fired by Islamist rebels downed a Syrian reconnaissance plane Tuesday and fighters captured its pilot, Syria’s military and activists said, as a partial truce showed further signs of fraying amid escalating fighting. The aircraft was hit near the city of Aleppo, a front line in ongoing battles that include an al-Qaeda-affiliated faction, Jabhat al-Nusra, which took the pilot captive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported later that an aircraft on a surveillance mission was brought down with a surface-to-air missile