22 attacks by drones have targeted Hmeimim Military Airbase since Putin’s visit for it including 18 attacks were carried out in July and August 2018
Calm has been prevailing since the 13th of August 2018, the area of Jableh and the area of Hmeimim Military Airbase, which is taken by the Russian forces as their main base on the Syrian territory, after a series of attacks which targeted Hmeimim Military Airbase, which frequently witnesses attacks after calm prevails the area, and the attacks are carried out by drones, some of which are shot down, and some others survive and strike the airbase, as between the visit of one of the most prominent sponsors in Syria, the SOHR monitored separated airstrikes and the time of attacks was different between one attack to another, the most violent of which were the intensive attacks by drones which targeted the airbase in July 2018.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 22 attacks carried out through drones, some of which were able to target Hmeimim Airbase and cause material damage and destruction in equipment, but others failed as a result of the targeting by the air defenses that are responsible for the protection and security of the Airbase, and among the total number of attacks there are 5 successive attacks in 5 consecutive days in August 2018 and at least 13 attacks targeted the Airbase during July 2018, while the early targeting was on the 6th of January 2018, also missile shelling targeted the Airbase area in late December 2017 after the visit of Putin for the area on 11th of December 2017, during which he met the Russian officers supervising the military operations in Syria, and also met the Syrian president, and attending a military parade inside the Airbase, also sources suggested that this calm in Hmeimim Airbase area is linked to the process of pushing Russia to the negotiating table, and securing a negotiable climate with better terms, even though the opposing factions did not claim responsibility of any aerial attack, despite the Russian accusations against opposition factions in Idlib and Latakia mountains, of carrying out these attack to destabilize and disperse the Russian Forces and to put them on successive alerts within the Airbase area, and within areas of presence of the Russian Forces in other areas.