Air Strikes by VKS & SyAAF, 27 May 2017

I’m extremely short on time, but in response to several requests, here you are….

I’m extremely short on time, but in response to several requests, here you are….

General situation in regards of Assadist and Russian combat flying over Syria is such that — despite various claims that are occassionally published in the social media — compared to the times from back in March and April, there is very little recorded flying activity. Indeed, that of the entire last week can be compared with just one day of late April, just for example.

Considering all the reporting about Assadist push for Dayr az-Zawr, Russian, Iranian, and Assadist involvement in fighting Daesh east of Palmyra, and also reports about their attacks on US-supported FSyA units in SE Syria, one would expect to see a lot more Russian aircraft taking off from Hmemmem AB. Alternatively, Assadists might at least want to keep their pilots current on aircraft and helicopters these are flying (i.e. train them), or fly attacks on Daesh. However, very little of this can be made out based on reports of the last few days.

27 May 2017

A single helicopter launched from Hama AB at 03.25 in the morning, one Su-24 from Tiyas at 09.02, and a Su-22 from the same air base at 09.45. All went in eastern direction. Another Su-22 launched from Dmeyr around 11.16hrs: it went in eastern direction. The helo that took-off from Hama at 11.28, bombed the Kfar Zita area. At 11.42, a helicopter launched from as-Safira and flew away in eastern direction, signalling the start of slightly more intensive activity: at 11.43 a Su-24 launched from Tiyas, and at 11.45 another helicopter from as-Safira. It was similar about ten minutes later: one Su-22 from Tiyas at 11.57, and a helicopter from as-Safira at 12.07. Kweres dispatched one Su-22 at 12.19hrs, and as-Safira another helicopter at 13.19hrs. Tiyas scrambled another Su-24 at 13.22 and Kweres another Su-22 at 13.27hrs. All of these went in eastern direction, i.e. flew attacks on the Daesh-held areas.

Indeed, even a MiG-21 that took off from Hama at 13.44 flew away towards east, just like the Su-24 that scrambled from Tiyas at 13.48, a helicopter from as-Safira t 13.50, a MiG-23 from Hama at 13.50, and a helicopter from as-Safira at 14.20.

The SyAAF continued launching its fighter-bombers and helicopters during the afternoon. A Su-24 from Tiyas at 14.47, a helicopter from as-Sarifa at 14.59, another Su-22 from Tiyas at 15.05, and one more helicopter from as-Safira at 15.49.

Curiously, there was absolutely no recorded activity from Hmemmem the entire day. Indeed, considering reports about Russians moving their helicopters to Shayrat and Tiyas, from about a month ago, I was surprised that nothing in this regards was reported, either. After all, take-offs of Assadist arcraft from these air bases are still reported – but no activity of Russian helicopters deployed there…?

At least there was nothing to report before 15.12hrs, when a single Russian Sukhoi fighter-bomber was observed high in the skies above Idlib.

Nothing was going on most of the late afternoon and then into the evening. Only around 20.04 hrs was a single Russian reconnaissance aircraft (unclear if Il-20M, Tu-214R or A-50U) observed high in the skies above Latamina. Either the same aircraft, or another reconnaissance type was reportedly underway over Kfar Zita around 23.17hrs. Only then, i.e. at 23.46 was a single fighter-bomber scrambled from Hmemmem AB: it went in north-eastern direction.

Totals

VKS

Fighter-bombers: 2

Recce: 2

SyAAF

L-39: 0

Helicopters: 8

MiG-21: 1

MiG-23: 1

Su-22: 5

Su-24: 5