KREMLIN ACCUSES U.S. OF DRONE ATTACK ON RUSSIAN AIR BASE IN SYRIA
Drone employment threatens to upset delicate cease-fire agreement in nearby Idlib
Russia’s deputy defense minister Aleksandr Fomin accused a US airplane of manually controlling 13 drones that attempted to attack Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria. The surprising allegations were made at a plenary session of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Thursday. A Russian diplomatic source elaborated on the comments, alleging that some Syrian militants in Idlib are being used by the US to create instability in northern Syria.
According to a report at TASS, Russia’s news agency, the official said that thirteen drones have “moved according to common combat battle deployment, operated by a single crew.” He linked their movements to the presence of an American Poseidon-8 reconnaissance plane patrolling in the Mediterranean Sea. He alleged that as the drones approached the sensitive Russian air base, the Russians used electronic countermeasures against them. The drones then began to use “manual guidance,” which he said could not have been done by local Syrian “villagers,” but was in fact done by the Poseidon-8 “which has modern equipment.” The drones were destroyed, according to Fomin.
“This should be stopped as well, in order to avoid fighting with the high-technology weapons of terrorists and highly-equipped terrorists it is necessary to stop supplying them with equipment,” Fomin said. He went on to note that in January, Syrian rebel groups had first used a large number of drones “in the attack on the Russian Khmeimim air base and the Russian naval base in Tartus.”
He said the latest attack was thwarted as Russia downed seven drones and “took control” over six others. Moscow’s evidence is based on the view that the technology necessary to coordinate the drones came from a “technologically advanced country.” Russia warned against a repeat of the incident.
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