The dead body of Abu Mahmoud al-Turkestani. Click to see full-size image. Via X.
A 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, was killed on April 30 in an FPV suicide drone strike carried out by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
The strike took place near the town of Kabani in the northern Lattakia countryside, a known stronghold of HTS and its allies.
The commander, identified as Abu Mahmoud al-Turkestani, was reportedly killed along with several other militants of HTS in the strike.
Abu Mahmoud’s nom de guerre, al-Turkestani, is usually used to refer to foreign Jihadists from central or eastern Asia, mainly Uyghurs from China. He was reportedly a prominent commander in the tank hunters units of HTS’ Ali bin Abi Talib Brigade.
The use of FPV suicide drones by the SAA was first reported last year. In the last few months, more than a 100 such drones targeted equipment, posts and militants from HTS and its allies in Greater Idlib. The rate of the strikes has been steadily increasing.
Abu Mahmoud was the second commander of HTS to be killed in a Syrian FPV suicide drone strike. On April 21, Abu Abdullah Agha, the commander of an elite special forces battalion in the terrorist group’s Othman bin Affan Brigade, died of wounds he sustained in a drone strike, also near Kabani.
The Russian military, who gained vast experience in mass producing and operating FPV suicide drones following the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, reportedly helped the SAA adopt and use the cost-effective weapon.
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