HEMEIMEEM BASE: The Russian military said on Friday it has downed dozens ofdrones and rockets launched by militants this year targeting Russia’s airbase in Syria.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said that sofar in 2019 the military has shot down 58 drones and 27 rockets thattargeted the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s Mediterranean province ofLatakia.
Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015,allowing Bashar Assad’s government to reclaim control over most of thecountry amid a devastating civil war.
Konashenkov, speaking to reporters during a trip to Syria organised by theministry, said the militants have continuously improved their drones, whichhave a range of up to 250 kilometers and an altitude of up to 4 kilometers(13,123 feet).
He added that while the drones may look primitive, they perform well andare difficult to spot.
“It’s quite worrying that the terrorists have obtained the navigation andcontrol technologies that only a few countries possess,” Konashenkov said.
He said the Russian base is protected by a variety of air defense assets.He said short- and medium-range Pantsyr S-1 and Tor M-2 air defense systemshave proven highly efficient against the drones, and the base also has thelong-range S-400 air defense systems.
Konashenkov said that most of the drone attacks were launched from KhanSheikhoun and Latamna in the northwestern province of Idlib. The Syrianarmy captured those areas last month following weeks of a sweepingoffensive backed by Russia.
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Idlib, which lies along the border with Turkey, is the last major rebelstronghold, and the Syrian army onslaught has created friction betweenRussia and Turkey, which struck a de-escalation agreement for Idlib a yearago. Turkey protested the offensive as a violation of the deal, whileRussia countered that the offensive was necessary to uproot militants whoused the area as a base to launch attacks on Syrian government troops andRussia’s military base.
More than eight years of fighting has left the country in ruins, andofficials in the areas reclaimed by the government are pleading forinternational assistance.
“We have suffered twice first from the rebels who deliberately destroyedhistoric monuments and now from the indifference of internationalorganizations that refuse to help us,” said Adnan Karaza, an official whooversees the historic Old City of Aleppo. “We haven’t received a penny.”Many sections of the ancient city were destroyed in years of viciousfighting until Assad’s forces captured the rebel-held eastern part ofAleppo three years ago. A giant portrait of Assad decorates the gates ofthe monumental medieval Citadel, the city’s top landmark.
Assad’s government has paid for the restoration of a section of the city’smedieval market, but there is no money to do the rest of the job.
“We wouldn’t like to think that the world doesn’t care about centuries ofhistory,” said Waleed Hawala, a 72-year-old professor of history atAleppo’s university who volunteered to help clear the Old City of debristogether with his students. “But so far we have been doing all therestoration work ourselves.”
