Air Strikes by VKS & SyAAF, 27 June 2017

With the regime, Hezbollah, and SSNP launching their counteroffensive in Qunaitra area, the activity of the VKS and the SyAAF increased a…

With the regime, Hezbollah, and SSNP launching their counteroffensive in Qunaitra area, the activity of the VKS and the SyAAF increased a notch further. Notably, the Russians returned to launching ‘waves’ of fighter-bombers during the night to 27 June, with take-offs from Hmemmem AB registered at 00.21, 00.22, 00.25, 00.41, 00.59, and 01.38. All went in southern direction.

At 01.42, Almazza launched two helicopters towards south; as-Sien followed with a single Su-24 at 01.56, Hmemmem launched one VKS aircraft at 01.58, Tiyas one Su-24 around 02.00 then another at 02.05 (the latter went in northern direction and reportedly overflew Moarek around 02.30), while Lataminah was overflown by a single L-39 around 03.02. Several UAVs were active over Dera’a and Idlib through the night too.

At 08.48, Tiyas launched one Su-22 towards north, followed by another at 09.01; Hmemmem AB launched one fighter-bomber at 11.04, another at 11.06, and its daily A-50 sortie at 11.30. SyAAF’s MiG-29s were reported as overflying southern Damascus around 11.47 and 11.49. Almazza then launched two additional helicopters towards Qunaitra, at 11.54 and 11.59. Around 12.05–12.15, even two Russian helicopters were observed west of Houla while flying in direction of southern Syria, while Tiyas launched a Su-24 in western direction at 12.28, and Dmeyr a Su-22 at 12.40. Nassiriyah followed these ‘examples’ by launching a MiG-23 at 12.41, and then a Su-24 at 12.44. At 13.18, Almazza launched one helicopter towards south, then another at 13.27, while the VKS launched one fighter-bomber at 13.41. All of these aircraft and helicopters have bombed the area between Qunaitra and Dera’a — and de-facto served the purpose of providing close-air-support for Daesh-affiliated gangs in NW Syria. Namely, their primary targets were FSyA’s positions around al-Ashari. These were hit by up to 18 bombs, that — between others — destroyed one T-55 MBT:

There followed a break of nearly three hours, until Hmemmem AB launched one (Russian) aircraft towards south-east, at 16.31, and then two others at 16.32. The latter two turned towards north-east, and seems to have resulted in CAPs somewhere over northern central Syria.

Tiyas launched one Su-22 at 19.05, then a Su-24 at 19.08, and a Su-22 at 19.10. All went in NE direction. At 19.21 and 19.26, Shayrat launched a Su-22 each towards south, then another at 19.34, while Tiyas launched one Su-24 towards south at 19.37.

Evening activity included two helicopters launched from Almazza at 21.46 and 21.47, a Su-24 from Tiyas (in NE direction) at 21.51, two helicopters from Khelkhleh around 22.02, two Russian helicopters that were active over the Jishr ash-Shughour area between 22.16 and 23.05, one Mi-25 launched from Almazza at 23.21, two VKS fighter-bombers launched from Hmemmem AB around 23.25, and three others launched around 23.45 (these passed west of Houla in southern direction, five minutes later).

Totals

VKS

fighter-bombers: 18

helicopters: 4

UAVs: 7

recce: 1

SyAAF

L-39s: 1

helicopters: 11

MiG-21s: 0

MiG-23s: 1

MiG-29s: 2

Su-22s: 7

Su-24s: 8