Syria in 2017 (April-December)

[CrowBat]

Russian MoD denies @hrw report that Soviet-era bombs were used in chemical attack, says not 1 Western inspector has visited site in Syria.

...as if one needs any 'Western inspector' - to get killed by old Russian bombs: there are enough photos and videos of what are VKS fighter-bombers dropping around.

Except of ODAB-500s, the 'newest' stuff are FAB-500M-62s: 62 stands for the year of their design... (1962).

BTW, the VKS now has at least one A-50 SRDLO (Russian for AWACS) in Syria. The source is 'murky', to put it mildly, but the photo appears to be genuine: it was taken near Hmemmem AB, on 29 April.

This, in turn, is 'little surprising', considering number of sorties flown every day is indicating that the Russians meanwhile have about 50 combat aircraft - mind: combat aircraft, i.e. fighter-bombers alone - deployed at Hmemmem.