On August 28, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shot down an armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over the town of al-Suqaylabiyah in the northern Hama countryside, according to the Syrian al-Madina FM radio station.
Click to see original-size image
Click to see original-size image
Experts said that the UAV is similar to the ones which were used by “unknown” militants to target Russia’s Hmeimim airbase on several occasions earlier this month. This type of UAVs is usually armed with two to ten unguided small-diameter projectiles.
The SAA shot down three smaller suicide UAVs over the town of Abu Dali in the northern Hama countryside last week. Back then, local sources said that two other UAVs crashed in an empty area, which shows the poor accuracy of these locally-made drones.
Syrian pro-government activists believe that the former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is manufacturing and operating these UAVs in order to deter the SAA and its allies. However, these claims are yet to be confirmed.
