Russia thwarts drone attack on Syrian airbase.

A jet damaged at Hmeimim airbase. BBC.

Russia has thwarted a major drone attack on their forces at Hmeimim airbase in Syria. BBC. Multiple drones were shot down by Russian forces. Hmeimim airbase is a major base for the Russians and has recently come under attack by "Islamist" groups. Two Russian servicemen were killed on New Years Eve in a mortar attack that also damaged several jets. It is unclear if the drone attack resulted in any casualties or damage to the Russians and their Syrian allies. The drones were of crude design and consisted of an engine mounted on wooden wings with two explosive mines attached. 

My Comment:

Interesting story out of Syria. Hmeimim airbase (aka Khmeimim) is fairly far away from the front lines and to have it come under two rather sophisticated attacks is a major story. Pretty unsettling for a war that was supposed to be over. Clearly there are some forces left in Syria that are willing and able to fight the Russians. 

Who might those factions might be? The obvious candidate is ISIS. They hate the Russians and have used drones in attacks before but they don't have many forces left anywhere in Syria, especially in the relatively safe coastal areas of Syria. They have never reached the critical coastal areas. Al-Nusra or whatever they are calling themselves now, are the other major suspect. Al-Nusra still control's quite a bit of territory and what they control is a lot closer to the coast. Still I don't remember them using drones before. I guess it is possible it could be one of the smaller Islamic factions as well or even the remnants of the Free Syrian Army. 

Having such major attacks occur in a formerly safe area is a huge embarrassment for the Russians and the Syrians. Especially after Russia has declared the war against ISIS over. If it really was ISIS that pulled of these fairly sophisticated attacks than it is a direct argument that no, they haven't been defeated. And if it wasn't ISIS that was responsible it's a clear reminder that ISIS wasn't the only game in town. 

The method of attack was interesting. It seems that the attackers built up a fleet of small, crude drones with bombs or mines attached to them. Though the drones are crude it was still an impressive incidence of creativity and improvisation in the Syrian War. The attack failed but it certainly had a chance to succeed. 

It makes me wonder how the Russians shot the drones down. My guess is that they were way too small to take down with surface to air missiles so I am guessing they took it down with small arms/machine guns or with dedicated anti-air guns. Either way, if the drones had targeted a less well defended target they probably could have caused mayhem. 

The use of drones by terrorist groups is a disturbing development. Though this attack failed there is not reason to think that the next one will fail as well. Most areas don't have anti-drone defenses and a terror attack using drones armed with explosives could be devastating...