Syrian group keeps bodies of Russian pilots

A Syrian group said it had the bodies of five people shot down in a Russian helicopter and demanded the release of prisoners in exchange for the corpses.

It wanted the release of prisoners held in Syrian government jails and by Damascus's Lebanese Shi'ite ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. It did not say who those prisoners were, or how many it wanted released, Reuters reports.

It also demanded an end to the siege of areas blockaded by the Syrian army and its allies, and for the delivery of significant amounts of humanitarian aid to people living in besieged areas