Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
The #Russian airbase in #Latakia is on high alert.
Jets depart every few minutes.
Dozens of air strikes on #Hama towns now.
....

Fighting on multiple fronts with multiple units and making gains is pushing the Assad/Iran/Russian forces to a breaking point in trying to regain control of the battlefield....

This appears to be a well thought out "swarm attack" shifting into major offensives......

Russian bombing and shelling anything that resembles a "rebel" as is Assad...but it is not stopping the offensives....
Not really. The Russians flew nearly 70 sorties yesterday, that's right. But, most of these were directed against the Daesh in Dayr Hafer area - in eastern Aleppo.

Some did hit Idlib too, no doubt, but by far not as many as reported.

Assadists flew there much more often - but they were hampered by low clouds and fog.

Instead - and particularly: 'instead of all the reports about nocturnal air strikes by Russian helicopters on advancing insurgents and jihadists - the last night, the Assadist units at Hama AB launched something like their 'maximum effort'. Here a list of recorded take-offs form that air base:

- 17:33: 1 helicopter (apparently bombed Sarqib)
- 18.18: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 18.40: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 19.07: 1 L-39 sighted while underway over Hreitan flying in direction of Sarqib (this one probably came from Shayrat or Tiyas)
- 20.22: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 20.53: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 21.22: 1 helicopter (this one bombed Ra'astan, in northern Homs)
- 21.27: 1 helicopter (this one bombed Sarqib)
- 22.36: 1 L-39 (this one attacked something near Latamina)
- 22.59: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 23.02: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 23.42: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction)
- 00.03: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction)
- 00.19: 1 L-39 bombed Sarqib (this one probably came from Tiyas)
- 00.26: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction)
- 01.17: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 01.23: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction)
- 01.26: 1 helicopter (flew away in northern direction)
- 02.01: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction)
- 03.01: 1 L-39 (flew away in northern direction).

Add to this some 4-5 sorties by Su-24s from Shayrat and Tiyas ABs - and you've got the picture.

Aside the fact that this is another confirmation for what I'm reporting since months already - namely that Assadists do have the ability to fly ground-attacks by night - but the actual big question is: what have they hit?

So far, they have primarily targeted the area between Kfar Nabl, Kfar Zita and Latamina. However, this is bombed intensively - and every single day - already since months. And still, the FSyA and HTS managed to prepare this offensive, launch it and score an early string of successes.

Thus, some conclusions are on hand. One of these is: neither Russians, nor Assadists - and not even the Americans with their massacre of civilians in al-Jaina, in western Aleppo, few days ago - have hit anything of military importance.