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Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is planning to attack Hmeimim Air Base, the headquarters of Russian forces in Syria, and Syrian military positions around the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib with drones, Major General Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, revealed on November 30.
“According to the information, obtained by the Russian Reconciliation Center, militants of HTS [previously known as the al-Nusra Front) terror group plan to carry out strikes using drones on the Russian air base in Khmeimim and positions of Syrian government forces near settlements of Jurin, Saraqib and Kafr Nubl in the governorate of Idlib,” the officer said.
According to Maj. Gen. Yegorov, HTS militants set up several launch sites and relocated personnel to launch drones near the town of Nahlaya in the southern Idlib countryside and the town of Jisr al-Shughur in the western countryside of the governorate.
HTS, which controls much of Greater Idlib, manufactures and operate several types of makeshift armed and suicide drones.
The terrorist group and its allies attacked Hmeimim Air Base and other military positions around Greater Idlib on several occasions in the last few years. However, most of the attacks were repelled by Russian and Syrian air defenses.
Early on in November, Russia warned that HTS and the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is also linked to al-Qaeda, are plotting to attack Hmeimim Air Base with a large number of makeshift drones. Later on, three armed or suicide drones were shot down by Syrian air defenses around Greater Idlib.
The Russian military grouping in Syria has been working hard to eradicate HTS’s drone program. In August and September, a series of Russian hit several drone workshops, storage and training facilities of the terrorist group in Greater Idlib. Dozens of makeshift drones were destroyed along with their control and launch stations. Many drone experts and operators were also killed.
Any new drone attack by HTS will be a blatant violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey more than two years ago. The Russian and Syrian militaries will likely respond with brute force.
