This past weekend, the Russian Air Force was given full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase inside the Latakia Governorate’s western countryside after the Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command approved the Russian Navy’s recent delivery of Sukhoi fighter jets through the Syrian port-city of Tartous.
The Hmaymat Military Airbase is located inside the Bassel Al-Assad International Airport, which sits just east of the densely populated coastal city of Jableh in western Latakia.
With full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase’s airfields, the Russian Air Force possesses a temporary airbase to begin their aerial operations above the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS) positions in Syria.
There has been much speculation regarding the location and existence of this alleged military airbase; this has even gone as far as news outlets falsifying reports about the alleged construction of a Russian military airbase in northwestern Syria.
According to a senior officer from the Syrian Air Defense in the Latakia Governorate, the Russian Federation has no immediate contingency to construct a military airbase because they have been granted full access to numerous airports around the country.
The source added that Russian military advisors have traveled as far east as Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor in order to inspect the Syrian Air Force’s equipment and to provide intelligence reports to the senior officers.
Russian military personnel are currently training and advising the civilian-led “National Defense Forces” (NDF) in the provinces of Latakia (Slunfeh), Tartous (Safita), and Homs (Wadi Al-Nasara area); this scheduled training is set to conclude in early November this year.
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