News / Syria

Syria intercepts, shoots down terrorist drones near Russian air base in Latakia

Monday, 03 February 2020 7:07 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 03 February 2020 7:13 PM ]

This file picture shows a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet at the Russia-run Hmeimim air base in Syria's west coastal province of Latakia. (Photo by Sputnik news agency)

Syrian air defense forces have managed to foil an attack by foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants against the country’s strategic Hmeimim air base in the western coastal province of Latakia.

Syria’s state-run al-Ikhbariyah Syria television news network reported that an anti-aircraft defense system intercepted and brought down two unmanned aerial vehicles near the base on Monday evening.

🔴 مراسل الإخبارية: منظومة الدفاع الجوي في مطار حميميم تسقط طائرتين مسيرتين في محيط المطار
— الاخبارية السورية (@alikhbariasy) February 3, 2020

The development came only a day after Major Geneneral Yuri Borenkov, the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, said several drones launched by Takfiri terrorists had been struck near Hmeimim air base.

“On February 1, at around 11 p.m. Moscow time (2000 GMT), air traffic control at the Russian Hmeimim base detected a multiple target made up of drones, which had been launched from the territory controlled by extremists in the de-escalation zone of Idlib. Electronic warfare systems have intercepted and neutralized the drones,” Borenkov said then.

He added that the drone attack left no one injured, and the base continued to operate as normal.

Syrian forces discover network of long tunnels once used by militants in Idlib

The heavily fortified concrete structures were used as weapons storage.

Back on January 19, Russian air defenses repelled a drone attack launched by unidentified militants on the strategic Hmeimim air base.

“With the standard anti-aircraft missile systems deployed by the Russian air base, air targets were destroyed at a safe distance,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement at the time.

The statement added that the incident inflicted no damage on the air base.