A video has been published of an attack by VKS aircraft on militants in Syria. “Support in the defeat of ISIS”: Russian long-range aviation struck terrorist positions in Syria Polite pilots: an aerial carousel over Syria

Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption An Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter crashed in the north of the country, the pilots ejected but were injured.

Israel launched a powerful attack on Syria's air defense system after an Israeli fighter jet was shot down during an air raid.

The airstrike was the most powerful since the 1982 Lebanon War, according to senior Israeli Air Force spokesman General Tomer Bar. Moreover, all aircraft that took part in sortie, returned safely to base.

Earlier, Israeli aircraft attacked “Iranian targets” in Syria after an Iranian drone launched from Syria was intercepted over the country’s territory. The targets of the strikes were drone control systems.

During this attack, air defense systems opened fire on Israeli aircraft. As a result, one of the fighters was damaged and crashed in northern Israel. According to the Israeli military, the pilots ejected, but were injured and hospitalized.

• Israel threatens to destroy Syria's entire air defense system
• Israel used the Arrow missile defense system for the first time in combat conditions
• Syria fires missiles at Israeli warplanes

This is the first loss of the Israeli air force since 2006, when Hezbollah militants shot down an Israeli helicopter over Lebanon with a missile. All five crew members died, including the female flight engineer.

The Syrian authorities have not yet officially commented on the incident. Previously in similar cases they accused Israel of aggression and used air defenses, but so far they have not been able to shoot down Israeli fighters.

At the same time, the Syrian state agency SANA, citing anonymous source reports that Syrian air defenses allegedly shot down more than one plane. The air defense system repelled an Israeli Air Force attack on military base in the center of Syria, the report said.

In March last year, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that in the event of a new anti-aircraft missile attack on Israeli aircraft, the entire system air defense Syria will be immediately destroyed.

Then Syrian missiles were also fired at Israeli planes carrying out attacks on Syrian territory. One of the missiles was shot down, the other two fell on Israeli territory. The Israeli planes were not damaged.

It was reported that Israel then used the Arrow missile defense system for the first time in combat conditions. Now, during the incident with the Iranian drone, the air raid warning system went off in some areas of Israel.

Exchange of threats

"The Syrians are playing with fire by allowing the Iranians to attack Israel," warned Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Yonatan Conricus. He also added that Israel will make him pay high price for the downed plane, but is not interested in escalating the situation.

Meanwhile, Iran and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon, whose fighters fight on the side of Assad's army, called claims that an Iranian drone penetrated Israeli airspace a lie.

In turn, Russia expressed serious concern about the Israeli air strikes and called on all parties to show restraint.

What is the Iranian presence in Syria?

Iran remains Israel's main enemy, with the Iranian military fighting anti-government groups in Syria since 2011.

Tehran sent military advisers, volunteers, and, according to some sources, hundreds of professional fighters from the ranks of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria.

It is also believed that Iran has sent thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition to help the Assad regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah militants fighting on its side.

Tehran is accused of not only seeking to increase its influence, but of wanting to provide routes for land delivery of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Yesterday it became known that Syrian government troops, with the support Russian aviation destroyed a large terrorist command post deployed on the site of a 14th-century Christian monastery demolished by militants. This time the air strike was carried out by Mi-28N Night Hunter combat helicopters, which arrived in Syria a couple of weeks ago. The liquidation of the command post was carried out as part of the operation to liberate the city of Al-Qaryatein.

Syrian government forces launched an active offensive against the city of Qaryatein from April 1 to April 3. It is located at a strategically important crossroads, which connects the territories around the city of Homs, controlled by militants of the Islamic State (IS) banned in the Russian Federation. The operation to liberate Al-Qaryatein from terrorists was carried out with the continuous support of Russian aviation.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, during the operation in the Al-Qaryatein area, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) carried out about 50 combat missions. More than 120 air strikes were carried out against IS terrorists, mostly from helicopters. As a result, more than 30 concentrations of militant equipment and manpower, 26 strongholds, and 7 command posts were destroyed. What allowed Syrian army units to carry out a cleanup on April 5 settlement and finish off scattered groups of bandits.

Let us note that since the withdrawal of the bulk of Russian troops from Syria was announced in mid-March, the usual images of the Aerospace Forces bombing ISIS targets have almost disappeared from television screens. This gave rise to widespread speculation about the curtailment of the operation of the air group from the Russian Federation and the hasty withdrawal of the Russians from Syria. However, as we see, in last days There has been a lot of evidence that the forces remaining at the Khmeimim airbase are quite sufficient to increase the intensity of air strikes to the required level. The only difference is that the weapon systems used for bombing have changed.

Thus, last Monday, a new video of the Mi-28N helicopter being used in combat in Syria circulated on the Internet. The video captures the moment when the Night Hunter eliminates ISIS militants near the city of Al-Qaryatein. Earlier, a video of a powerful air attack by a Ka-52 Alligator helicopter in the vicinity was spread across many Internet resources. ancient city Palmyra is the first filming of the combat use of this vehicle. As the commanders of the Syrian government forces later stated, the liberation of Palmyra, where terrorists created a powerful defense system, would have been unthinkable without the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

So in the city of El-Qaryatein, the Syrians who liberated it speak with gratitude about the help of aviation, claiming that without it they would have had a much more difficult time. IS militants set up one of their command posts in the ruins of an ancient Christian monastery. Radical Islamists bulldozed the 14th-century temple, then set fire to the new church building and took up defensive positions in the monastic cells.

“The terrorists’ command post was located in these cells. Based on the number of abandoned things, it can be assumed that several dozen militants and their commander lived here,” said the head of the military police of the third army corps of the Syrian Arab Army, Sair Abdurahman. “The Islamic State militants fled from here as soon as they realized that they would not be able to hold the city in the event of an inevitable assault.” The officer showed journalists the room of the commander of the militant detachment and noted that the inscription on his personal closet Abu Daud RUS suggests that the head of the gang, like some of its members, was a native of Russia. The officer’s words are confirmed by the “Book of Jihad” found in the next common room in Russian.

It is no coincidence, by the way, that more than half of Russians (58%) recently surveyed by the Levada Center believe that the main goal of Russia’s participation in the military operation in Syria was the desire to “neutralize and eliminate the threat of the transfer” of military actions of Islamic radicals and terrorists to the territory of our country . Less than a third believe that the Russian authorities “protected the government of Bashar al-Assad to prevent a chain of color revolutions provoked by the United States around the world” (27%). Also, speaking about what goals the Russian leadership is pursuing by participating in the war in Syria, 19% of respondents expressed the opinion that the authorities “defended economic interests Russian companies in the Middle East." Another 9% believe that the Russian leadership “tried to split the coalition Western countries, in order to ease the threat of complete isolation of Russia and further tightening of sanctions,” the same amount (9%) – which “supported the Assad regime in its fight against the opposition.” Meanwhile, 12% of respondents said they did not understand why Russia participated in this war.

In general, 68% of Russians believe that by launching air and missile strikes in Syria in the fall, the Russian leadership acted correctly (16% are confident in the opposite; 16% were undecided). Well, 81% of respondents are confident that the decision to withdraw Russian aviation from Syria was correct (7% do not think so, 12% found it difficult to answer). True, the question remains open: can our air group really be considered withdrawn from Syria? After all, the intensity of air strikes against the positions of IS and other terrorist groups remains quite high, and they have not been interrupted.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Tu-22M3 long-range bombers attacked targets of the Islamic State terrorist group* in the province of Deir ez-Zor. The strike was carried out in support of an offensive by Syrian government forces.

“On November 2, 2017, supporting the Syrian government forces in the defeat of ISIS militants in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir ez-Zor, six long-range Tu-22M3 bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces launched a group air strike on the targets of the ISIS terrorist group in the area of ​​​​the city of Abu Kemal.” , says a statement from the Ministry of Defense received by RT.

The Russian defense department notes that the targets were weapons depots, shelters for equipment, strongholds and terrorist control points.

“Long-range bombers took off from Russian territory, flew over the territory of Iran and Iraq and carried out a group air strike on terrorist targets in the province of Deir ez-Zor. Fighter aviation cover for long-range bombers over Syrian territory was carried out by Su-30SM aircraft from the Khmeimim airfield,” the statement says.

The defeat of all designated targets was confirmed by objective control data, and after the successful completion of the combat mission Russian planes returned to their home airfields.

Settlement formula

Special Representative of the Russian President for the Middle East and African Countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that he considers the formula “neither winners nor losers” to be the most rational principle for resolving the Syrian crisis. According to him, it is this approach that will prevent an early resumption of the active phase of the conflict.

• Mikhail Bogdanov
• RIA News
• Alexey Filippov

“The situation is very contradictory, very complex, and we proceed from the fact that it is necessary to maintain contacts with the maximum number of players in this military-political situation in order to be able not only to receive more or less objective information, but also to somehow communicate with them work and positively influence in order to resolve these very difficult issues within the framework of a national dialogue in Syria, and Iraq, and Libya, and Yemen, bearing in mind our main, principled approaches: preserving the territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty of these countries , “so that there are no winners and losers,” TASS quotes Bogdanov as saying.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that the defeated side will be waiting for a reason for revenge, so national interests need to be raised above others.

“I proceed from the experience of the Lebanese war: this equation of “neither winners nor losers” is the most rational approach, because the vanquished always waits for the moment for revenge, for revenge. Ideally, we need some kind of national consensus, a balance of interests, so that national interests are higher than narrow party, narrow religious, narrow national interests,” he concluded.

Success of the operation

Tu-22M3 bombers also attacked terrorist positions in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor on November 1. Then the targets of Russian long-range aviation aircraft were strongholds of militants, as well as warehouses with ammunition and weapons.

The day before this bombing, in the province of Deir ez-Zor, the positions of the Islamic State were also attacked with the help of Caliber cruise missiles, which were launched from the Veliky Novgorod submarine. The targets of the three missiles fired were an ammunition depot, armored vehicles, and terrorist military units.

• Syrian Democratic Army
• Reuters
• Rodi Said / File Photo

The Ministry of Defense reported that over the past two months, the Veliky Novgorod submarine made four launches of Caliber missiles. At the same time, the liquidation objects were located at a distance of up to 700 km.

“Over the past two months, since joining the permanent naval grouping in the Mediterranean Sea, the Veliky Novgorod submarine conducted four salvo launches of high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles at targets of terrorist groups at a range of 350 to 700 km,” the statement noted. ministry

Prior to this, the Veliky Novgorod submarine, together with the Kolpino submarine, attacked Islamists in Syria in early October. The submarine targets were then located in the area of ​​the village of Al-Mayadin (also the province of Deir ez-Zor). The salvoes were carried out in support of an offensive operation by government forces.

Over the past week, the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria carried out more than 360 sorties and destroyed more than 650 terrorist targets. According to the Ministry of Defense, more than 90% of the state’s territory has been liberated from militants. As noted in the Russian Foreign Ministry, the operation in Syria is approaching its final stage.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu previously reported that during the two years of the operation in Syria, the Russian air group liquidated more than 900 training camps, over 660 ammunition factories and 1.5 thousand units military equipment IG. Announcing this, he also emphasized that before Russian forces entered hostilities, terrorists controlled more than 70% of the territory of Syria.

*"Islamic State" (IS) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

Aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked the location of militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in the Russian Federation) near the city of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria. Video published by TV channel "Star" .

Footage taken from the cockpit of one of the Russian aircraft shows long-range Tu-22M3 bombers dropping warheads. Six planes took off from Russian territory, flew over the territory of Iran and Iraq and then entered Syrian airspace. Over the territory of Syria, cover for the Tu-22M3 was provided by Su-30SM fighters from the Khmeimim airfield.

They clarified that the targets for destruction were strongholds, concentrations of manpower and armored vehicles of terrorists. Objective control means recorded the defeat of all designated targets. After completing the combat mission, all Russian aircraft returned to their home airfields.

At the end of last week, the Russian Defense Minister said that the Syrian army, with the support of the Aerospace Forces, took last stronghold IS militants in Syria, which was located precisely in Abu Kemal. The commander of the Russian group in Syria, Colonel General, informed the minister directly about the liberation of the city via video conference call.

“Currently, work is underway to clear mines from Deir ez-Zor and Mayadin. They also liberated Abu Kemal from militants,” Shoigu said later at a press conference.

According to him, some of them were destroyed, some of them crossed the Euphrates and are moving in a northerly direction.

Shoigu also noted the work of the Aerospace Forces during the operation. He emphasized that the Aerospace Forces showed all their skill in difficult weather conditions completed all the tasks that were assigned to them. The representative of the press service of the Syrian Armed Forces, General Ali Maykhoub, in turn, called the liberation of Abu Kemal from militants “a failure of the IS project.”

The offensive of the government army was carried out with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Since the beginning of November, Russian bombers carried out daily airstrikes against terrorist positions in the Abu Kemal area: from November 1 to 4, Tu-22M3 took off from Russian territory and destroyed IS targets with high-explosive FAB-500 bombs.

On November 3, terrorist positions in the Abu Kemal area were also attacked from the Russian submarine Kolpino with six Caliber cruise missiles. The missiles were launched from an underwater position, with the attack targets located at a distance of more than 650 kilometers.

A few days earlier, the Calibers were launched from the Veliky Novgorod submarine. On October 31, a Russian submarine launched a salvo attack with three cruise missiles on ISIS terrorist targets in Deir ez-Zor province.

In addition, the operation was supported by the Iraqi Air Force - its helicopters supported Syrian infantry and armored vehicles from the air. The Shiite irregular formations Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, acting on the side of the Iraqi army, went to the rear of the ISIS terrorists, blocking their escape routes, since Abu Kamal is located near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Deputy, first deputy chairman of the All-Russian public organization veterans of the “Combat Brotherhood” Dmitry promised to erect monuments to the Russian military killed in Syria.

“I promise on behalf of the “Combat Brotherhood” that at the site of the death of your sons we will erect monuments with inscriptions in Russian and Syriac. Today we give you this promise,” Sablin said at a meeting of members of the friendship group of the Russian and Syrian parliaments with the families of Russian servicemen who died in the Syrian Arab Republic.

September 30, 2015 will definitely go down in history. For three years now, European fighters against ISIS have been in an incomprehensible struggle with varying results. This is probably because the European-sponsored Free Syrian Army, which is fighting both Assad’s troops and ISIS, has come to naught. Some FSA fighters go over to the side of ISIS or the SAA, others simply lost their ideological guidelines in this war, the peak of their activity was in 2011-13.

Russian aviation worked on ISIS positions: at headquarters, at weapons, ammunition and fuel depots, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports. Immediately, all media channels were flooded with old videos of NATO airstrikes on civilian targets, which you can see in our previous collections for 2013. They are passed off as airstrikes by Russian aviation. This collection contains only real airstrikes by Russian aviation.

Today, new information has appeared (on the website interpolit.ru) regarding the extent of Iran’s intervention in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. So behind the Shiite resistance units is the Iranian Brigadier General Soleimani. Iran has been winning the geopolitical conflict for the last 5 years, which influenced the installation of the ISIS group, but it is not yet clear what role is destined for neutral Sunnis in Iraq and Serbia.

Video of the Russian Ministry of Defense dated October 5, 2015, entitled “Destruction of a concentration of militant equipment by an airstrike of a Su-24M bomber” (c) Russian Ministry of Defense

Russian air strikes.

Airbase in Latakia

Daytime flights of Russian aviation. Khmeimim airfield.

Syrian Air Force drops leaflets over militants' positions

Polite pilots: an aerial carousel over Syria

Su-25 before takeoff in Syria

The Russian Air Force worked on ISIS positions. Idlib Province

Destruction of an ISIS weapons depot in the region of MAARET-EN-NUUMAN

Airstrike on militant positions at the entrance to the village. MAARET-EN-NUUMAN

Destruction of a disguised command post of one of the ISIS formations in the area of ​​the village of KASSERT FARADJ (southwest of RAQQA).
As a result of a direct hit by a Su-34 bomber, the object was completely destroyed and a large crater was formed in its place.

Reports from Russian TV channels about night flights of Su-24M bombers:

ISIS showed a destroyed bunker by the Russian Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.

Russian fighters in Syria

The aviation group of the Russian Aerospace Forces includes more than 50 aircraft and helicopters. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, on Thursday Russian Su-24M and Su-25 aircraft made eight flights from the Khmeimim airbase to five targets of the international terrorist group "Islamic State" in Syria.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that it has distributed video footage of attacks on the command post and control headquarters of ISIS formations in Syria.

Video of the attack on ISIS headquarters:

Terrorist organizations have admitted the death of three of their leaders in the last few hours in the city of Talbisa north of the city of Homs during bombings: Ahmad Hassan Khashfa leader of Jaysh al-Tawhid, Abdul-Muhaimen al-Agha leader of the Court of Al-Zafaran and Akram Hajj Eissa, who is the chairman of the "Council of Scholars of Talbisa Sheikhs".

Videos from Talbiseh claim to be the consequences of a Russian airstrike.

The headquarters of terrorist groups and an ammunition depot in the Idlib region, as well as a three-level fortified command post of militants in the area of ​​the village, were destroyed. HAMA. As a result of a direct hit from an aerial bomb, a plant preparing vehicles for explosion was completely destroyed. north of the city

Homs.

In the same area, only videos of militants