On Sunday evening, January 19, militants in Syria attempted to attack the Russian Hmeimim air base with drones. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, drones were destroyed by means of an air defense base and did not cause any damage.
“At a considerable distance, three small aerial targets (UAVs) were identified approaching a Russian military facility from a northeast direction. Established anti-aircraft missile systems of the Russian air base, air targets were destroyed at a safe distance. There were no victims or material damage, ”the Ministry of Defense noted.
Against this background, last weekend militants launched several massive attacks on government troops in the area of the de-escalation zone in Idlib. This was reported in the Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties and the control of the movement of refugees in Syria (CPVS).
“On January 18, a gang of up to 130 militants, supported by pickups with heavy machine guns from the Gadfa region, attacked the defensive positions of the Syrian government forces in a southeastern direction, which managed to repel the attack only thanks to the massive use of artillery and tanks,” the report said.
On the same day, three groups of militants from 50 to 70 people each, with the support of pickups with heavy weapons installed on them, attacked the positions of the Syrian troops in the south of the Idlib de-escalation zone (in the areas of Kafer Sedzhna, Muka and Herbet Babulin). It is reported that as a result of the attack, they retreated to their original positions, having lost up to 15 people killed and 25 wounded.
“In the course of repelling the attacks of the militants, 10 military personnel of the SAR armed forces were killed, 15 were injured,” the TsPVS said.
Escalation in Idlib
Aggravation in the Idlib area has been going on for several days. According to the Ministry of Defense, from January 16, 2020, terrorists at least 16 times attacked the positions of government troops, and also made more than 250 shelling of civilian settlements. As a result of these attacks and shelling, 47 Syrian troops were killed and 77 were injured. Even more civilian casualties - 51 killed and 116 injured.
At the same time, the CPVS experts emphasize that instead of improvised weapons, the militants began to more actively use the standard armaments of NATO countries: “If previously illegal armed groups mainly used handicraft weapons and ammunition, such as“ ballonoet ”, now the militants are actively using regular ammunition and weapons of NATO countries ".
This escalation has led civilians to leave the Idlib de-escalation zone for several days now. So, checkpoints for leaving this territory were opened on January 13, but since the 16th, no one has passed through them. In total, almost 1.5 thousand people and 63 pieces of equipment were able to leave the de-escalation zone during this time.
“Such an aggravation of the situation has not been observed since May 2019,” the CPVS emphasized.
Note that the Ministry of Defense also published a map on which the situation in Syria is recorded on the morning of January 19. It marks the aforementioned attacks, and also indicates which territories are under the control of the ATS government, and which are still outside the jurisdiction of Damascus.
- © Ministry of Defense of Russia
So, from the document it follows that almost all along the perimeter of the Idlib de-escalation zone violations of the ceasefire are recorded, and in the east of the country, in the territories beyond the control of the legitimate government, several terrorist attacks were committed.
It is worth noting that during their attacks, militants also use armored vehicles. So, on January 17, it was reported that terrorists of up to 50 people involved six tanks and infantry armored vehicles during the offensive. The head of the CPVS, Major General Yuri Borenkov, said that government forces were able to counterattack and restore the line of defense. He also said that the terrorist organization “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” * is responsible for escalation, the number of militants of which, excluding mercenaries, is about 20 thousand people.
According to him, the militants are trying to provoke a new round of escalation in the Idlib region in order to maintain control over the territories occupied by terrorist organizations.
“In such circumstances, the leaders of jihadists are trying to provoke a new round of escalation in order to mobilize militants in the Idlib de-escalation zone to confront government forces and not lose control of the occupied territories,” Borenkov said.
“At the same time, the leadership of the radicals clearly counts on the support of the West, which will once again try to prevent decisive action by government forces to eliminate the terrorist nest in Idlib,” the major general emphasized.
* “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (“Jabhat Fath al-Sham”, “Front al-Nusra”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.