A detachment of more than 200 servicemen and 47 units of combat and special equipment has been dispatched to Syria in order to demine the city of Aleppo.
Photo: Getty Images / Valery Sharifulin
Russia dispatches a detachment of more than 200 people for demining of Aleppo, Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Sergei Rudskoy, said.
“Today, an advanced detachment from the international anti-mine center of the Russian Armed Forces is leaving to defuse unexploded ordnance in Aleppo,” the TASS news agency quoted his words. “Overall, more than 200 servicemen and 47 units of combat and special equipment will be involved in the demining activities in Aleppo,” Rudskoy noted.
In his turn, a former commander of the Russian engineering troops, Colonel-General Nikolai Serdcev, said that the mine clearing of Aleppo will be much more complicated and risky than the work of Russian sappers in Palmyra, where they demilitarized 19,000 explosive objects and cleared 116 kilometers of roads.
“There will be much more risks. If Palmyra was simply cleared of ammunition, here probably [they] will face some traps. The situation will be much more complicated, there were heavy battles for liberation of the city, and retiring forces of militants probably left more than one mine-surprise,” Serdcev told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.
According to the general, the mine neutralization will be carried out mostly by hand in conditions of Aleppo.
“Look what sort of destruction is there – the whole city is in rubble. Before to start to use hardware, it is needed to check by hand and to provide guarantees that the hardware will operate. There will be the only one hardware – arms and legs of sapper and his head,” Serdcev noted.
According to him, sappers will not have an opportunity to use unmanned ground vehicles, such as Uran-6 bomb disposal robots, which were used in Palmyra.
“Robots work on search of metal, and there the whole [city] is inundated with armature. Spoons, forks, everything will be indicated and it will be extremely problematic to operate for mine detectors,” Serdcev noted.
So thankful Aleppo civilians are being freed now by Syria and her allies! Deep gratitude and prayers for the brave liberators in this house by house, street by street combat to drive the terrorists out of the city. And lastly, sincere appreciation for the Russian government who stood on the side of international law and helped Syria fight off these US supported mercenaries. May peace come soon.