- NEW: An opposition group reports 70 dead Thursday
- NEW: U.S. ambassador to Syria threatens international prosecution of military members
- Syria identifies the pilot who apparently defected; Jordan has not
- Syria reports 19 "martyrs" buried
(CNN) -- A pilot in the Syrian military fled the country in a jet Thursday and landed in Jordan, where he requested asylum, the Jordanian government said.
The apparent defection came as an opposition group reported 70 deaths in Syria on Thursday.
It also came less than a day after the U.S. ambassador to Syria announced that members of the Syrian military taking part in attacks on civilians could one day face international criminal prosecution.
Syria said Thursday it had lost contact with an aircraft that was on a training flight near Syria's southern border.
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Is Russian ship carrying arms to Syria? Col. Hassan Mirei al-Hamadeh was the pilot, Syria said on state-run news agency SANA.
Jordan did not immediately name the pilot seeking asylum.
Both Syria and Jordan said the aircraft was a Russian-made MiG-21
Throughout the 15-month conflict in Syria, numerous members of the military have defected, some of them joining the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Thousands have fled the country as well, entering neighboring nations including Jordan.
Violence continued in Syria on Thursday, with at least 70 people killed, including eight children, the opposition Local Coordination Committees in Syria said. The group reported "massacres" in the town of Inkhel and in Douma, in the Damascus suburbs.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were reports many more bodies could be buried under rubble of destroyed buildings in Inkhel.
Since the uprising began in March 2011, violence has killed more than 15,000 people in Syria, including 10,480 civilians, 3,715 soldiers, and 830 defectors, the observatory said.
The United Nations has said at least 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which blames "armed terrorist groups" for the violence in the country, said 19 "army, law enforcement and civilian martyrs" were buried Thursday.
U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford announced Wednesday that "the United States and the international community will work with the Syrian people to locate the military members responsible" for attacks on civilians, and will "hold them accountable."
In a post on Facebook, Ford -- who has been in the United States since the U.S. Embassy closed in February -- cited the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which indicted 161 people, including members of the military, "for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity against non-combatants and combatants."
"Members of the Syrian military should reconsider their support for a regime that is losing the battle," he added. "The Assad regime cannot outlast the desire of Syrian people for a democratic state.
"The officers and soldiers of the Syrian military have a choice to make. Do they want to expose themselves to criminal prosecution by supporting the barbaric actions of the Assad regime against the Syrian people? Or do they want to help secure the role of the professional military in a democratic Syria by supporting the Syrian people and their transition to an inclusive, tolerant and representative democracy that respects human rights and equal, fair treatment for all components of the Syrian nation?"
CNN's Josh Levs contributed to this report.
