One of the two runways of the Hmeymim air base in Syria has been closed. This is what emerges from the new satellite photos of the Airbus Defense and Space.
Two large Xs, normally used to indicate closed runways, were painted at the ends of the western runway between 29 March and 7 April last. No reconstruction works on the track are visible, in the last passage carried out on 15 April last. The two runways were used by the Russians for fixed-wing aircraft operations during the first phase of the Kremlin's involvement in Syria that began last September. The airport was previously used only for civilian purposes, with military use reserved for helicopters. The Hmeymim base still hosts 11 Su-24s, five Su-34s, four Su-30s and four Su-35s.
In Syria, the Russians have deployed between 20 and 35 rotor platforms Mil Mi-28N and Kamov Ka-52, spotted both in Hmeymim and in the Al-Shayrat base, 30 km southeast of Homs. At Hmeymim, the main specnaz projection base in Syria in the coastal province of Latakia, the bulk of the Russian rotor forces composed of the Mi-28N and KA-52 helicopters are still present. The Kremlin has deployed Mi-35M gunboats optimized for night combat also at the Tiyas base and 122 mm D-30 howitzers on the north flank of the outpost.
Both Hmeymim that the naval structure of Tartus, the last Russian outpost in the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union, are protected by the stratified short, medium and long range S300 / S400 systems, and T-90 tanks. The Kremlin has also deployed high-precision ballistic systems optimized for use at close range Iskander, to protect the Hmeymim airbase. Hmeymim and Tartus, finally, are within the range of the rotating missile cruisers deployed close to the Syrian coast.
