2712070 10/04/2015 Russian servicemen attach a Kh-25 high-precision missile to a Su-24 aircraft at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria. Dmitriy Vinogradov/RIA Novosti
On September 14, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shared new information on the September 8 Syrian-Russian strikes on the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.
A field officer in the army told the Syrian Arab News Agency that the strikes targeted a large camp where foreign experts of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de-facto ruler of Greater Idlib, trained terrorists on launching and operating makeshift suicide drones as well as a number of headquarters of the terrorist group.
Su-24M and Su-34 fighter bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces took part in the attack, while the SAA used OTR-21 Tochka tactical ballistic missiles. The targets were all located in the al-Rug Plain in the western countryside of Idlib.
“The operation led to the destruction of [HTS’s] headquarters along with control and command vehicles and drones, in addition to the killing and wounding of a number of terrorists, including foreign-trained terrorists,” the unnamed SAA officer said.
The Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria has already revealed that 120 terrorists, including former commander of the Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, were killed in the strike.
The strikes were apparently a response to recent ceasefire violation of the ceasefire in Greater Idlib, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey. HTS and its allies launched dozens of attacks from the regions in the weeks leading to the strikes. Several service members of the SAA were killed or wounded in these attacks.
There is no doubt that the Syrian-Russian strikes dealt a large blow to HTS. The terrorist group has been working nonstop to turn Greater Idlib into its own Islamic Caliphate since the start of the ceasefire more than two years ago.
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