Syrian Arab Air Force القوات الجوية العربية السورية | |
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Founded | 1948 |
Country | Syria |
Part of | Ministry of Defense |
March | We are the Eagles |
Engagements | |
Commanders | |
Commander-in-Chief | Marshal Bashar al-Assad |
Minister of Defence | Lieutenant General Ali Mahmoud Abbas |
Commander-in-Chief | Major General Tawfiq Khaddour [2] |
Insignia | |
Roundel | |
Air Force Ensign | |
Aircraft flown | |
Fighter | MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-29 |
Helicopter | Mil Mi-14, Mil Mi-17, Mil Mi-8, Mil Mi-2, Kamov Ka-28, Kamov Ka-226 |
Attack helicopter | Mil Mi-24, Gazelle |
Interceptor | MiG-25 |
Reconnaissance | PA-31 |
Trainer | MBB 223 Flamingo, Aero L-39 Albatros, MFI-17 Mushshak |
Transport | Il-76, An-24, An-26, Mi-8 |
This article lists air bases currently operated or used by the Syrian Arab Air Force. During the Syrian Civil War some bases were captured by rebels forces.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war from August to December 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Battle of Tabqa Airbase refers to a series of clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Arab Army in August 2014, during the Syrian Civil War. Tabqa was the last bastion for Syrian military forces in Raqqa province, which at the end of the battle came fully under the control of the ISIL.
Suhayl al-Hasan is a Syrian Army major general, currently serving as commander of its elite 25th Special Mission Forces Division. He graduated from the Syrian Arab Air Force academy in 1991, and served in many units of the Syrian Arab Air Forces and Air Defence Command, completing several training courses. After serving in the Syrian Arab Air Force and Syrian Arab Air Defence units, he joined the Air Force Intelligence service, where he was responsible for the training of the elements of the Special Operations Section. During the Syrian civil war, al-Hasan has served and commanded his troops during several major engagements, including Operation Canopus Star and the battle for the Shaer gas field. He is part of the new generation of field Syrian army commanders who emerged during the civil war. French newspaper Le Monde has claimed he could be a rival to Assad as leader of Syria.
The 2015 Idlib offensive refers to a series of rebel operations in the Idlib Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War. The offensive started with a rebel assault on the capital of the province, Idlib. According to The Economist, the capture of Idlib came about largely because Gulf Arab states "gave more backing to their proxies despite American objections."
The siege of Abu al-Duhur Airbase was a battle for the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in the Idlib Governorate during the Syrian civil war. It was captured by the rebel and jihadist forces on 9 September 2015. The base had been besieged since September 2012.
On 14 September 2015, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – in cooperation with the National Defence Forces (NDF) and the Al-Ba'ath Battalion – launched a fresh offensive inside the Aleppo Governorate's southeastern countryside in order to lift the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham's (ISIS) two-year-long siege of the isolated Kuweires Military Airbase. This offensive was later complemented by another effort starting mid-October further south, which would be aimed at cementing government control over the main logistical route to Aleppo from central Syria.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2016. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The 25th Special Mission Forces Division, mostly known by their former name Tiger Forces or Quwwat al-Nimr, is an elite formation of the Syrian Arab Army under the charge of the commander Suheil al-Hassan. It was formed in late 2013 and functions primarily as an offensive unit in the Syrian Civil War. It has been described as a "hot commodity for any government offensive", but their relatively small numbers make it difficult to deploy them to multiple fronts at once.
The Palmyra offensive in December 2016 was a military operation launched by the military of ISIL which led to the re-capture of the ancient city of Palmyra, and an unsuccessful ISIL attack on the Tiyas T-4 Airbase to the west of the city. ISIL previously controlled the city from May 2015 until March 2016.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive was a military operation launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Syrian Armed Forces, to capture the city of Deir ez-Zor, on 14 January 2017. The offensive came amid the group losing large amounts of territory in the Raqqa offensive as well as the Turkish military intervention in Syria, while Iraqi forces were advancing in its Iraq headquarters in Mosul. It ended with the city being split into two parts.
The Palmyra offensive in 2017 was launched by the Syrian Arab Army against the armed forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Eastern Homs Governorate in January 2017, with the goal of recapturing Palmyra and its surrounding countryside. ISIL forces had retaken the city of Palmyra in a sudden offensive from 8 to 11 December, after previously being expelled from it by Syrian government and Russian forces in March 2016. On 2 March 2017, the Syrian Army alongside Russian reinforcement, succeeded again in recapturing the beleaguered city of Palmyra.
Jirah Military Airbase is a small Syrian airbase of the Syrian Arab Air Force. After surrounding the airbase in the middle of January 2013, the base was captured by opposition fighters from Ahrar al-Sham and the Free Syrian Army on 12 February. It fell under ISIL control in January 2014. On 9 March 2017 the Syrian Army launched an assault to recapture the airbase. On 12 May 2017, the SAA recaptured the airbase from ISIS in the Maskanah Plains offensive and had it fully secured by 29 May. It was reopened in January 2023. A Syrian Air Defense Force unit is stationed there.
Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase is a major airbase of the Syrian Arab Air Force. The airbase is located about 5 km east of Abu al-Duhur, in Idlib Governorate.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Hama offensive , code-named Oh Servants of God, Be Steadfast, was a military offensive launched by rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) north of the city Hama, as part of the Syrian Civil War.
The northwestern Syria campaign was a large-scale military operation that initially started with an offensive conducted by ISIL forces on areas controlled by Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the northern Hama Governorate. Subsequently, the Syrian Armed Forces launched their own offensive against HTS and other rebel groups in the area. The campaign took place at the intersection of the provinces of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2018. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The 2019 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed "Dawn of Idlib", was a military operation launched on 30 April 2019 by the Syrian Armed Forces and its allies against rebel groups in northwestern Syria during the Syrian civil war in a region known as "Greater Idlib", consisting of northwest Hama, southern Idlib and northeastern Latakia provinces. The government's main objectives were to open the M5 highway and to expel non-compliant militant groups, particularly the internationally proscribed al-Qaeda-linked group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), from the 15–20 km demilitarized zone demarcated by Turkey and the Russian Federation at Sochi in 2018. The offensive was seen by both parties as crucial to the outcome of the war.
The 2019–2020 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed "Dawn of Idlib 2," was a military operation launched by the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other allied militias against Syrian opposition and allied fighters of the Syrian National Army, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Rouse the Believers Operations Room, the Turkistan Islamic Party, and other rebel and Salafi jihadist forces in Idlib and surrounding governorates during the Syrian civil war. The offensive began on 19 December 2019 and saw Russian-backed pro-Syrian government forces clash with Turkish-backed opposition groups along with leaving 980,000 civilians displaced.