Five Russian military personnel on board a helicopter have died after their aircraft was shot down in Syria, the Kremlin, quoted by ABC, has confirmed.

The Russian defence ministry said the military helicopter was shot down over the Syrian province of Idlib.

"A Russian Mi-8 military transport helicopter was shot down from the ground in Idlib province after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo," the ministry said in a statement.

"There were three crew members and two officers from the Russian reconciliation centre in Syria on board."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed condolences over the deaths of the five soldiers.

"As far as we know from the information we've had from the defence ministry, those in the helicopter died, they died heroically, because they were trying to move the aircraft away to minimise victims on the ground," he told journalists.

Peskov also said that Moscow would continue fighting international terrorism "on all fronts" despite threats from Islamic State. 

Source : MENA