Two armed individuals launched an attack two days ago on the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria, resulting in casualties among the Russian forces defending the base, as well as the attackers.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday, May 21, citing two unnamed government sources, that the attackers who launched the assault on Tuesday at Hmeimim, located on the Syrian coast, were killed.
The Syrian official mentioned that it remains unclear whether the deceased at the base were Russian soldiers or Syrian contractors, and the Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment from the American news agency.
Moreover, the Syrian government has not issued any statement regarding the matter.
The Associated Press quoted the government official stating that the killed assailants were foreigners, working as military trainers at a naval college, which trains personnel from the new government army.
He added that they attacked the base spontaneously and were not officially affiliated with any faction.
Enab Baladi obtained information from a governmental source in Latakia, confirming that the attack took place, but the source said there was “no information available to the province regarding the outcome of the attack.”
Reports indicated that negotiations were ongoing between the government and Russian forces at the base to recover the attackers, but the media relations official in Latakia, Nour al-Din Primo, denied these claims during a conversation with Enab Baladi.
The Hmeimim base is the main center for Russian forces in Syria, and over the past years, it has served as a launch pad for Russian attacks towards Syrian cities when Moscow was exerting its influence to maintain Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
With the fall of the Syrian regime on December 8, 2024, Russia limited its military presence to Hmeimim and initiated negotiations with Damascus to keep its military presence in the area.
The Syrian forces affiliated with the new government have launched successive security campaigns around the base to control weapons and pursue wanted individuals from the ousted regime in the region.
On March 18, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced that it had found weapons and ammunition near the walls of Hmeimim Airport in Latakia, which hosts Russian forces.
Following the security operations launched by government troops in the Syrian coast, witnessing violations against civilians, around 8,000 individuals fled to the Russian military base, fearing retaliatory operations.
Amid discussions about the presence of elements from the remnants of the ousted regime among the displaced, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, stated that most of the displaced are women and children, considering that this represents “the best response to questions about Russia’s true contribution to the fate of Syrians,” as she put it.
Latakia: What is the story behind the clashes in Hmeimim? Enab Baladi.
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