Slain HTS commander Abu Ahmad Basratun. Click to see full-size image. Via X.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) killed on May 1 yet another military commander of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group that rules over the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, using FPV suicide drones.
The commander, identified as Abu Ahmad Basratun, was reportedly targeted along with other militants of HTS near the town of Kafr Nouran in the western Aleppo countryside.
Basratun was a commander in the ranks of HTS’ Omar bin Al-Khattab Brigade. He was reportedly responsible for building and improving fortifications along the frontline.
The use of FPV suicide drones by the SAA was first reported last year. More than a 100 such drones targeted equipment, posts and militants from HTS and its allies in Greater Idlib in the last few months only. The rate of the strikes has been steadily increasing.
Basratun was the third commander of HTS to be killed by the SAA using FPV suicide drones in the last ten days. On April 21, Abu Abdullah Agha, the commander of an elite special forces battalion in HTS’ Othman bin Affan Brigade, died of wounds he sustained in a drone strike near the town of Kabani in the northern Lattakia countryside. On April 30, another strike near Kabani killed Abu Mahmoud al-Turkestani, a commander in the tank hunters units of the terrorist group’s Ali bin Abi Talib Brigade.
The appearance of FPV suicide drones with the SAA was not surprising considering that they are cheap and easy to manufacture.
The SAA reportedly received some support from Russia, who gained vast experience in mass producing and operating this type of drones following the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
