BEIRUT – Syrian activists said rebels shot down a government warplane over the northern province of Idlib on Thursday, the second time in a week that opposition fighters claimed to have brought down an aircraft in the escalating civil war.

Two activist groups, the Local Coordination Committees and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the plane was seen crashing near the Abu Zuhour air base. Idlib-based activist Alaa al-Din said rebels shot it down with heavy machine guns.

A video broadcast on the pan-Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya showed what appears to be a person parachuting, and rebels cheering and claiming he was the pilot. The video's authenticity could not be verified.