Flying Activity for 16 June 2017
Another day that began in unusual fashion (things are simply different since most of fighting moved to the Dera'a area).
At 01.52, and 02.02, the VKS launched one fighter-bomber each from Hmemmem AB in south-eastern direction. At 02.58, also a VKS helicopter launched from Tiyas AB, and then another Russian fighter-bomber from Hmemmem AB, at 03.56.
At 04.02, three helicopters took-off from Almazza AB; at 04.26 and 04.28, two Su-24s from as-Sien AB, and then - at 05.03 - another helicopter from Almazza. Just a minute later, a Su-22 lifted of from as-Sien AB. All of these went in direction of Dera'a. The bombing from the air there is thus not really 'relentless', but certainly 'regular'. Foremost, these air strikes were flown in support of another assault by the IRGC on the astern side of the city, supported by MBTs, which was stopped by insurgents.
A MiG-23 was launched from Dmeyr at 06.56, and then a MiG-21 was sighted over southern Damascus around 07.28. Both went in direction of Dera'a, too. As always, fighting Syrian insurgents is No.1 priority for Assadists. Alternativelly, it is possible that they were scrambled in reaction to additional activity of Jordanian UAVs - like the one of the last few days, which resulted in SyAAF claiming that its MiG-23MLDs have shot down two of these (the photos here actually show the wreckage of one of R-24 (medium-range, semi-active radar homing) air-to-air missiles fired during one of these encounters, not the wreckage of the UAV shot down by insurgents).
At 08.21, three helicopters launched from Almazza AB for their second trip to Dera'a; at 08.40, another MiG-23 was scrambled from as-Sien, and then a Su-22 from Tiyas, at 08.54, and a Su-24 at 09.08.
Activity at Tiyas was then re-directed towards Daesh. At 09.18, one Su-24 was launched in north-eastern direction; at 09.27 a Su-22 too, and then at 09.28 another Su-22. BTW, here an interesting video from eastern Homs - perhaps showing one of recently delivered (from Russia) BMP-1s, or an AMB-S (ambulance variant) modified to carry a ZU-23 (instead of its usual turret)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U02pkfPWfec&t
Meanwhile, action over Dera'a continued with a take-off of one MiG-23 from Nassiriyah, at 09.44, and another at 09.50.
Two Russian helicopters lifted from Tiyas at 09.51 and 09.54; a Su-22 from Dmeyr at 10.05, two helicopters then went in western direction at 10.21, Dmeyr launched another MiG-23 in north-western direction at 10.24, Nassiriyah one MiG-23 in southern direction at 10.32, and another at 10.37, while Tiyas got another Su-24 airborne at 10.38. At least one of MIG-23BNs in question bombed Jobar, 'again'.
Shayrat continued launching air strikes on Daesh: one Su-22 lifted off from that air base each at 10.39 and 11.02. A singe MiG-23 was launched from Nassiriyah at 11.06 - but this went in north-western direction (i.e. was a probable scramble of an interceptor), and a Su-22 from Shayrat at 11.24.
The Russians flew relatively little this morning but this changed around the noon. At 11.12, one of their aircraft was reported while passing high above Houla. Around 11.44, another transited the same area. At least one of these two actually bombed Houla, while the other went in south-eastern direction. Around the same time, two other Russian fighter bombers were orbiting the area around Jebel Kurd.
Nassiriyah launched two additional MiG-23s at 12.14 and 12.46 - but both went in north-western direction. Was there some kind of Israeli activity over Lebanon, or was anything going on along the border to Turkey...? Currently, I do not know.
Whatever was the case, Shayrat continued the action by launching a single Su-22 in northern direction around 13.14, while Nassiriyah scrambled another MiG-23 at 13.15hrs, and a pair of VKS fighters was reported while passing high above Jebel Kurdi at 13.38. At 14.01, one MiG-23 was reported above southern Damascus while underway in easern direction, and at 14.30, Tiyas launched another Su-22 towards north-east.
There followed a longer break, before Tiyas launched one Su-22 towards south, at 15.18, and a MiG-21 was reported while passing above southern Damascus, at 15.42. Two Russian fighter-bombers then passed high above Houla, at 16.04.
Evening began with a take-off of two Su-24s from Tiyas, at 18.21 and 18.44. Few minutes later, two VKS aircraft were reported as underway high above Jebel Turkomen.
Between 20.55 and 21.11, Almazza launched four helicopters in direction of Dera'a. One L-39 then took-off from Kweres at 21.56, another helicopter from Almaza at 22.43, one L-39 from Kweres at 22.46, while three Russian fighter-bombers passed high above Houla at 23.31, 23.57, and 23.58.
Totals
VKS
fighter-bombers: 15
helicopters: 3
UAVs: 4
Recce: 0
SyAAF
L-39s: 2
helicopters: 11
MiG-21s: 2
MiG-23s: 13
Su-22s: 10
Su-24s: 7
BTW, the assault of the PKK/PYD/YPG/SDF-conglomerate on Raqqa, is meanwhile directly supported by US Army's AH-64 Apache helicopters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OkYiyfmgY
Earlier Reporting:
Posted Jun 17, 2017, 10:41 AM UTC