Photos Allegedly Show Damage Caused To Russian Aircraft At Khmeimim Air Base From Militant Shelling

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Following the reports about a militant shelling that targeted Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria on December 31, three photos appeared online allegedly showing a damage caused to Russian aircraft deployed there.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, “a mobile militant subversive group” shelled the airbase with a mortar and killed 2 service members. The ministry said that the initial media reports about 7 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which were allegedly destroyed by the shelling, are fake.

Photos Allegedly Show Damage Caused To Russian Aircraft At Khmeimim Air Base From Militant Shelling

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Tags:russia, russian military, syria, Syrian Civil War

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Jazza
how do we know what the truth is?
- dutchnational
  In fact, those photo’s could come from anywhere, any time.
  - Tudor Miron
    Some times even Dutchy is making sense :)
    - FlorianGeyer
      Dutch’s alter ego sometimes does :)
  - Akarnanas57
    We all forgot UKRAINE.
    How about if we go a few years back??? Rain and what not???
  - Gary Sellars
    OMG, I upvoted Dutch (cuz his comment was spot on..)
    Don’t think I can do this regularly… it seems… unnatural… LOL
- Barba_Papa
  You never do. That’s assuming there even is such a thing as ‘the truth’. The guy from Dilbert has it there is not even something as ‘reality’. Everyone is just experiencing a movie that his or her mind made up to make sense of what their senses experience. Our brains basically construct a picture of reality. That is why there is no such thing as common sense. Or why what seems so perfectly logical to you does not get accepted by others. Or why people can hold such extreme views. We’re all the stars in our personal home movie in our own reality bubble. We all live in our own personal Matrix.
  - Savio
    That is bullshit. Of course there is truth.
    There can be billion opinions, but what hapened, the truth is only one.
  - FlorianGeyer
    There is a reality that the US seeks to ‘skate around’ though but cannot ignore and that is when a person or people actually get shot or blown apart in the US ‘narrative wars.
    Facebook and Twitter warfare are all very well but as the US regime is not bothered about what the people say, what is the point? And do the mass of Twitter followers care anyway ?
paul ( original )
In a time of Photoshop, pictures may always lie.
Igor Dano
Russians have to do the same to the jewels and Americans.
- Rob
  As President Putin withdrew some military personnels guarding air base so militants look for week points and in the result they got the access to the air base to cause damage.
dontlietome
The pictures depict the rear of an SU 24, but the damage resembles that of a strike from a solid , maybe a bird ??????? There is simply not enough shrapnel damage to prove it was caused by a motor round. The ground is soaking wet in all photos, so its anybodies guess where these pictures were taken…………………. Manchester ????????? ( Hey I’m joking !!!!!!!!!)
dontlietome
I just spotted this comment from another blogger “Starlight”, which is related to this incident, and I think he has hit the truth on the head…………….
Starlight • 38 minutes ago
Here’s a clue for the clueless. The jewish terror state, thanks to billions of
dollars of FREE cash from poor USA taxpayers, has a myriad of satelites
constantly taking excellent photos of Russian facllities everywhere.
When Russia suffers any kind of ‘black eye’, the jews publish images and
gloat.
The gloating howls like a demon in places like the Syria
war reddit forum. Or liveleak. When a few years back the Russians lost a
ton of planes to fire on a very poorly serviced airbase in Syria, the
photos of the destruction appeared the next day (tho it took Russia a
LONG time to admit the disaster).
Yet this time- NOTHING. No
pictures- no gloating. And then, in a Russian newspaper controlled by
Britain’s MI6, this. Just in time for Russia’s election cycle.
So NO LEAKED jewish Israeli satellite images. No forum gloating at the time. NOTHING.
So
all the evidence points to a SUCCESSFUL insertion of British MI6 FAKE
NEWS into a major (fake) independent news outlet in Russia. That- guys-
is how Britain plays the Great Game.
But british spooks are
REJOICING at the response, as witnessed in the comments here. FUD
(google it) is designed to have thickie chattering classes fall over
themsleves to discuss the FAKE facts of the FUD.
Learn to spot
fake news, guys, and ignore it. Fake news is designed to be ‘exciting’
to tempt the terminally naive to waste time talking about it- and thus
absorbing its message.
- AM Hants
  Brilliant comment and so glad you shared it for others to read. Seriously makes sense and no doubt there will be many incidents like the above, before the Russian Presidential Elections.
  - dontlietome
    Many thanks, but the credits go to “Starlight”.
    - John Whitehot
      “When a few years back the Russians lost a
      ton of planes to fire on a very poorly serviced airbase in Syria”
      Lolololololol you oughta call this starlight and ask him where on earth has he read about this. Also watch out before crediting his posts because he’s know to hid things in them like “Putin’s weak and won’t defend Syria” etc.
      - Terra Cotta Woolpuller
        Yes , he does as it’s a US operation under the starlight moniker.
      - Graeme Rymill
        “The starlight moniker”!!!!????
        Doe he know the secret handshake though?
      - dontlietome
        Good points, but sometimes I disregard the B.S. and filter it for the “meat”if it rings true. Occasionally even crap oysters drop the odd decent pearl. We’re living in interesting times John.
      - John Whitehot
        “We’re living in interesting times John”
        I concur, probably more interesting that most realize.
      - Bob
        Was also wondering about the cited claim, ‘… a few years back the Russians…lost a ton of planes to fire…in Syria…’, err, when exactly, Mr Starlight?!!
      - John Whitehot
        :D, besides if we were to go into hilarious mode, we could say that “a ton of planes” equates to about 1/15 of a Sukhoi-27 ..
      - Graeme Rymill
        RT knew about it:
        https://www.rt.com/news/344254-russian-helicopters-isis-syria/
      - Bob
        Where to even start with this one…’ton of [Russian] planes’…?!!
        No, unverified claims of four destroyed Russian helicopters disputed by Russian MoD. And unverified claims of ISIS attack. Again, disputed by Russian MoD. Actual origin of these claims? Not actually RT, who merely reported on the claims and Russian MoD responses – but rather claims originate with STRATFOR – the US intelligence related think-tank. Highly speculative, and anti-Russian, fake news from a US CIA aligned think-tank…
      - Graeme Rymill
        You did read this bit, did you Bob?
        “Meanwhile Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a source
        at the T4 base, that that the helicopters were damaged as a result of a
        fire at the airfield.
        ‘The cause of the fire is unknown. It began near the area where the four helicopters were stationed, with fire-trucks unable to get close to the epicenter of the blaze due to a sudden mortar attack by terrorists. The flame quickly spread to helicopters,’ the source told the agency, adding no one has been injured in the shelling.
        “THE SOURCE TOLD THE AGENCY” – so not the source told Startfor, not the source told the CIA, nor even that the source told the American Boy Scouts – but the source told the RIA Novosti news agency – the state-operated domestic Russian-language news agency.
        When you put blinkers on Bob you can blind yourself to what is being written. None of this proves beyond a doubt that it happened but you can’t say there isn’t evidence.
      - Bob
        Oh dear – that’s getting rather desperate Graeme. Did you even read the same article? An unaccredited ‘source’ at the Russian airfield …so…who.. exactly…meanwhile all of the serious allegations come from STRATFOR. Everything in that article is predicated upon STRATFOR claims based on some dude in Virginia perusing satellite photographs. Notably, this was shortly after the Russians took US by complete surprise with military-aviation intervention in Syria to halt the foreign US-Gulf sponsored proxy war on the Syrian state. STRATFOR is y no means a credible news agency – it is a CIA affiliated think-tank, who rather have a biased interest the fight.
        — Stratfor (@Stratfor) May 24, 2016
      - Graeme Rymill
        Starlight misremembered an article from over 18 months ago. He said “planes” when the alleged event was about helicopters. Big deal! You couldn’t even manage to remember that with your “did the rest of the world somehow miss that event?!!” The event wasn’t missed for example by SouthFront… they didn’t believe it but they still reported it. https://southfront.org/satellite-imagery-prove-that-4-russian-mi-24-attack-helicopters-have-been-destroyed-in-syria/
        As to the source – it is being reported by RIA Novosti an official Russian Government media outlet – not CNN or the New York Times. Is RIA Novosti unreliable “fake news” main stream media too? Oh yes I forgot…..they are totally reliable, total truthful unless of course they happen to report something that goes against your personal narrative. Who is really doing the bypassing? You or me?
        For the slow learners in the class (that’s you!) let’s go through the various claims.
        Stratfor alleges ISIS attacked and destroyed 4 Russian helicopters and backs its claims with some satellite photos
        The Russian Defence Ministry denies the claims.
        An official Russian media outlet also denies that the helicopters were destroyed but instead says they were in fact damaged, not by ISIS, but by a fire.
        The Russian Ministry of Defence notably failed to brand this new version from RAI Novosti “fake news”!!!!
        So your contention that all these claims emanate from Stratfor is simply wrong. Some of course do come from Stratfor. Some come quite separately from an official Russian media source that refutes Startfor’s account and substitutes its own.
        You may not agree with Starlight’s comments. He did get the facts jumbled but he didn’t make the whole thing up as you and the others imply.
      - Bob
        ‘He [Starlight] did get the facts jumbled…’
        ‘So your contention that all these claims emanate from Stratfor is simply wrong. Some of course do come from Stratfor.’
        Some smooth logic there, dude.
        So you essentially confirmed the claims of ‘Starlight’ were factually wrong and that the RT report concerned speculative claims from STRATFOR think tank analysts – that were refuted by Russian MoD.
      - Graeme Rymill
        He read it on the RT news site:
        https://www.rt.com/news/344254-russian-helicopters-isis-syria/
        “Meanwhile Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a source
        at the T4 base, that that the helicopters were damaged as a result of a
        fire at the airfield.
        ‘The cause of the fire is unknown. It began near the area where the four helicopters were stationed, with fire-trucks unable to get close to the epicenter of the blaze due to a sudden mortar attack by terrorists. The flame quickly spread to
        helicopters,’ the source told the agency, adding no one has been injured in the shelling.”
      - John Whitehot
        you fail to report the whole part in which the ministry of defence denies any chopper has been damaged and obviously only talk about an “unnamed source”.
        I remember the episode, stratfor had come out with photoshopped pics, its spokeperson struggling before cameras trying to underline how “an entire combat section of helicopters were destroyed by ISIS mortars”; after which, the US intelligence community distanced themselves from stratfor and stated that damage was caused by “a fire starting in a fuel tank” but there was no sign of ISIS attacks, which is exactly what the “unnamed source” stated.
- Blue Centurion
  Whats the Frequency Kenneth?
Joe
These are fakes.
A mortar round would spatter lots of holes on the planes sides. The damages are more like being struck with single object.
Definitely. Fake
Jim Prendergast
This is unfortunate but not overwhelming. My uncle fought in the Battle of Britain and all of his wing were strafed to pieces on the runway, ground-crews killed and most pilots burned. They sill won the war.
peter
Is time to returnig Russians and burn all unauthorised rats in Syria !
ALEPPO327
Two pics of a damaged rear wing (only hillbillies from the US will believe shrapnel does this).. aaand a single tiny hole causing a leak while the rest of the plane is in perfect condition.
Damn I’m convinced.
- Graeme Rymill
  We have no idea how big the mortar rounds were (60mm? 82mm? 120mm?); were they high explosive rounds or high explosive plus fragmentation?; how many rounds were fired?; how close they possibly landed to any planes? (assuming they did land near planes)
  You guys know nothing definite about the incident except that 2 Russians were killed. Yet all of a sudden you and Joe and dontlietome are experts on the blast and fragmentation effects of mortars. You make me laugh with your instant “expert” opinions.
  - Gary Sellars
    Don’t be a schmuck. If this Su-24 had been hit by a mortar round or a HE shell its CLEAR the damage wouldn’t be confined to the elevator and that shrapnel damage and charring would be visible over the rear fuselage.
    - Graeme Rymill
      Clear to who? You? You may have a pre-conceived idea of what a mortar round does when it explodes. I suspect it come from Hollywood movies though…
      - Gary Sellars
        Again, you are being a schmuck. HE shells inflict blast and fragmentation damage. They don’t simply twist and tear up metal.
        For how long have you been a terror-supporter? Do they pay you in Saudi Rials?
      - Graeme Rymill
        So according to you when a mortar shell explodes say some distance from its target it ALWAYS inflicts both blast and fragmentation damage? It NEVER inflicts just blast damage or just fragmentation damage along any axis within its cone of destruction.
        This sort of thought process (or perhaps lack of a thought process) tells me you know jackshit about what you are so vehemently maintaining.
      - Gary Sellars
        Aircraft are soft skinned. If a blast wave from a detonated munition is severe enough to rip a sizeable chunk from a Su-24 elevator flap, then its going to be close enough to suffer fragmentation damage. I’d also expect to see frag damage on the remnants of the elevator panel and similar blast damage (to some degree) on the rudder and fuselage, but there is nothing.
        Its not rocket science…. Now kindly STFU and stop shilling for the Wahabbi camel-fondlers.
      - Graeme Rymill
        Aircraft are soft skinned? Gosh! I am learning from the master!
        Your reply indicates you believe a mortar bomb explosion occurs in a predictable fashion with both blast and fragmentation damage being evenly distributed around the cone of destruction. This tells me all I really need to know about how much you know about this topic: fuck all!
      - Gary Sellars
        Did I make any statements about fragments distribution? No, I clearly didn’t. I simply stated the fucking obvious.
        Aircraft are soft skinned, just like you apparently….
      - Graeme Rymill
        I am soft skinned???? You’re not coming on to me are you Gary? I love you like a brother but I am not into that!
      - Gary Sellars
        /facepalm
        soft skinned = easily upset, no resilience, whines little a butthurt little bitch when proved wrong.
      - Graeme Rymill
        I think the phrase you are struggling with is “thin skinned”…..
      - Rex drabble
        Idiot
  - ALEPPO327
    I lived in a warzone (aleppo city.. near bustan al-basha) for the length of the war.
    I’m not an expert.. but i learned what mortars do as time went by.
    And anyway no one can claim destroying 7 aircraft and damaging others by showing a damaged rear wing and a leak.
    - Graeme Rymill
      You are missing my point: I don’t claim these photos prove anything! I claim that these photos DON’T disprove that a mortar attack damaged or destroyed planes.
      To me the photos are inconclusive – to the fanboys on this site just by looking at these 3 photos they KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that no mortar ever hit these planes. It is this arrogant certainty that they can, with their perfect accuracy and analysis, interpret these photos is what i find laughable.
- AM Hants
  The wonder of photo shop.
peter
Mr.Putin twice dont finish his job and leave batterfield.His people pay for this by life !
- Savio
  What a bullshit fake argument.
  Sorry, you failed.
Tudor Miron
Honestly, I’m not really sure that this pictures are taken in Syria – looking at the clothing of people there. Anyway I see one Su-24 being damaged and it’s obvious that plane will be rebuild fairly easily (but not within Hmeimim airbase).
- Graeme Rymill
  This is what Russian Air Force Ground crew in Syria normally wear:
  https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e729957f02926c9ac5353e90f1d935b17d86b456918d57fdc01954ea2936c0d4.jpg
  However for late December in Syria it might be a bit cool for shorts and t-shirts. It got as low as 11 degrees that day in Latakia and there was 7mm of rain!
  See: https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/OSLK/2017/12/31/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Latakia&req_state=LA&req_statename=Syria&reqdb.zip=00000&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=40022
  - Hendrik
    It is winter now, so I presume they wear warmer clothes.
- John Whitehot
  I think I’ve read somewhere that Hmeinim has infrastructure to repair any damage that isn’t a “written off” (too damaged to economically justify a repair)
  - Gary Sellars
    Agreed as Su-24 are old style ex-Soviet and the design emphasis was on serviceability in the field. They’ll replace the damaged components, patch the skin as needed, and send her back in.
Wegan
Something odd about the pictures, seems like the damage was from the inside -out. Can’t be from a shelling. Also this damage is fixable with the right parts. Anyways we’ll learn more in a few hours.
Wegan
The timing is perfect, with the now aborted uprising (with just 15k people in total from different cities in Iran). US asking the UNSC to meet on Iran protests (the UNSC refused to meet on this issue). Pakistan dropping the USD in favor of the Yuan. The Koreas are talking without the US as intermediate.
All this is showing some kind of desperation from the US and they will use all their might to stir up as much trouble as they can.
- Weldon Cheek
  Are the protests pretty much over now?i noticed a few comments saying there has been massive overstatement of the scale but that there are still protests going on(although not nearly as volitile as has been reported in msm).
  - Terra Cotta Woolpuller
    They always protest the inflation in that country it’s nothing new show me a country that doesn’t protest inflation.
- wwinsti
  Well said, I had not thought to connect those dots.
- Nigel Maund
  Well said and almost certianly correct. The US – CIA – Mossad engineers so much trouble it would blow you mind to see just how much they are responsible for around the world. Human life means absolutely nothing to these people. They have no moral compass whatsoever. Indeed, if the were navigators they would be perpetually lost and would never reach any port except by pure chance.
Hendrik
The actual weather forecast for Latakia is 9-13 Celsius and lots of rain. So the weather on the photos is realistic, also the clothes. The green grass in the background could also grow during winter time. So far the location settings could be correct. The damage from mortar shelling could be everything, from a single hole to massiv destruction. But it is fact that the shelling took place and it is very likely that as a result some equipment could have been damaged. The airbase is 24/7 on duty, so not all aircrafts have been in shelter. As we can see, the aircraft with the single hole was fully equipped with bombs and ready for take off.
- Terra Cotta Woolpuller
  The 2 look like they didn’t get their damage from mortars as the hole in the tank could be from a rivet popping out temperature changes can affect aluminum adversely. The plane with rear torn tail can happen when in air under these circumstances have seen similar problems on US air bases so don’t be surprised about it happening.
  - Graeme Rymill
    I should have known Woolpuller would be a world expert on the forensics of combat aircraft damage! Rivets popping due to temperature changes? I don’t suppose you have any sources for that? Oh.. I forgot.. you never do….
- John Whitehot
  “The green grass in the background could also grow during winter time”
  That grass doesn’t grow up if you don’t plant it. The base was bare land in all pics I saw so far, the only grass that could grow there is some isolated weed.
  You talk about shelters, and there are only few, if any at Hmeinim.
  I also took the liberty of downloading the pics, and they are suspiciously low-resolution for being taken in 2018. Also, who did release them? Because it’s very strange that the Russians would release any pic of the incident.
  This is very unconvincing, and is pretty much taking the shape of one of those bullshittery contest made by yanks for propaganda hits.
  - Graeme Rymill
    “The base was bare land in all pics I saw so far”
    I am not even sure there is any green grass in those pictures above.. there’s something green though.
    In any case your search for grassy pics wasn’t very thorough John:
    http://www.talkmedianews.com/featured/2016/02/22/us-russia-strike-deal-on-syria-ceasefire/
    http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/2015/10/photos-russian-offensive-in-syria.html [See photos 2 and 3 ]
    http://www.fort-russ.com/2015/12/khmeimim-airbase-3-months-of-service-to.html
David BlackBeard
Putin said , if Assad will need some help we will come back .. ( something like that ))) but I Think , HTS decided to not wait for Assad to ask for extra help , so they did it by themself … )))) they asked to get wiped out like isis did ))) HTS , guys , very smart very very very smart of you ))
Hero
So was not fake news..Very wrong Putin decision to withdraw part of troops from Syria
- dontlietome
  I simply cannot agree…………….. with all the other incidents world-wide co-incidentally occurring now, the Pres. needs his army at home. This not a prank for the voters at home, this was agreed with Pres.Assad before hand. Look at Iran at the mo’, what if the US/Zio sponsored coup had taken hold…………..and with Iran sharing a border with Russia, do you not think that perhaps Pres.Putin knew something was in the offing ?
That Guy
If this did happen for real, then a major operation should be launched north, northeast, and east of Latakia, to expand a buffer zone for Hmemim airbase, and surveillance should be done strictly and carefully to prevent any mobile infiltrator from getting near the airbase.
- dontlietome
  The enemy was headed by Spec.Ops from either SAS/Delta/Israeli/Nato……….. or all of them, and they were receiving intel in real time from the Israelis whose Satellites observe the Russian installations 24/7.Frankly , I will admit that I saw this coming months ago, I am only very saddened by the loss of 2 very brave men who died on the field very far from their home.
  - Graeme Rymill
    “The enemy was headed by Spec.Ops from either SAS/Delta/Israeli/Nato”
    Based on what exactly? Your gut feeling?
    - dontlietome
      Yes, its just an assumption, but let’s consider what we do “know”. We know that all of the above are still very active in the country. We know this from certain websites who can be considered good sources of factual intel. We also have photographic evidence, and then we even have the Jewish owned MSM crowing the Israeli involvement because they are proud of it and regard themselves as untouchable. Israeli commando’s/spec ops are very active, you only have to peruse the Debka files to read how they aid the ISIS terrs. The SAS are active there, I have first-hand knowledge of this, so its a fact. As for the operation itself, most ISIS are still a bunch of ragtag morons who can carry an rpg or swap the clip of an a.k. but they have no leadership qualities in the slightest, hence they get outside help. Consider also that they fired from an area that is relatively well dominated by the SAA and outside the Russian defence troops buffer zone. So how did they get intel as too the layout of the airbase ? How did they infil and exil , and not get seen let alone caught ? Who set up the mortar and knew where the aircraft were parked ? All of this requires outside expertise. So what’s your take, if you consider mine to be faulty ?
    - dontlietome
      To quote you;- “Dutchnational (and me too!) enjoy pointing out mistakes because of the
      unthinking acceptance that all pro-Assad news is true and all bad news
      (bad news from the Assadist perspective) is “fake news” or “zio lies”.
      It is time you guys looked a little more critically at information.
      Otherwise you end up looking like a bunch of tunnel visioned fools.”
      Who the fuck are you to tell us what to do or think ?
      You are a non-entity with no more knowledge or experience than most others here. Dutch National is a hubris-hate filled monster and is treated as such, and if you ever manage to bring anything of real interest, other than criticism, then that will be the day. But I doubt it. From what I have read of your posts , you consider yourself some sort of “One-eyed-King in the kingdom of the blind”, the know all, but with nothing too offer………………..if you don’t like what people write on a website that you obvious deride, then expect a rough ride…………….more fool you.
anonim
It doesn’t take many spare parts to fix such damage.
David Colin Leach
So Planes were damaged ? Make your mind up ffs.
Weldon Cheek
So the russians admit that yes,a mortar landed killing two personel ,damaged couple of planes aswell,BIG WHOOP!! THE RUSSIANS ARE SENDING THE WAHABBI MONKEYS STRAIGHT TO HELL IN FRAGMENTS ON A CONSTANT DAILY BASIS!! If the russians HADDENT had a few misshaps here and there then that would of been dodgy news! One things for sure,for the price of a couple of personel and a bit of aluminium patches those jihadis will ay one hell of a price, wonder if its time for a F.O.A.B????
John Whitehot
I’m not sure the pics depict planes hit on the ground.
The first pic shows an aircraft that has had fluid coming out and washing back, apparently due to air drag action. This means it has sustained battle damage and has reentered.
The last pic shows a plane with a puncture in the right fuel conduits, yet it has a bomb loaded, and it’s unlikely (although not impossible) that parked planes sit on the tarmac with bombs loaded.
In any case, the damage shown can be repaired in few hours, having access to spare parts, and is very far from the claim “7 planes destroyed” made by ragheads
- Graeme Rymill
  “the damage shown…….is very far from the claim ‘7 planes destroyed’ made by ragheads”
  But if true it is also very far from the claims of “fake news” and “Photoshopped” made by the Assadist cheerleaders on this site…. so there you go…..it’s a complex world as I always say! :-)
  - Gary Sellars
    Have you finished embarrassing yourself?
    No? Yeah, I afraid that was the case…
  - John Whitehot
    “it’s a complex world as I always say! :-)”
    yep, complex enough for your kind to “fish in the mud”, if you know what I mean.
    You have failed to convince a single “Assad cheerleader” that your beloved jihadist pets managed to cause any kind of substantial damage, beside the casualties.
    FAIL.
    Take you photoshopped pics, your Stratfor claims, your paid dissidents and GFY while falling down a cliff.
hvaiallverden
Look not at the gaping hole, but the immediate surrounding material and construction, its virtually flawless, and no holes what so ever if it was supposedly hit my an granat, witch usually shoots never the less, scrap metals around the wound (aka the explosion, witch is an metal casing), and look also at the material/plate in the hole, no holes shining thru, so I think this are cut out of some plains, that probably have had some accident, in flight or static, and the leak, well, an lucky rifle shoot may have done that, etc, again, the inconsistency of lacking more physical profs, incl the impact zone to verify anything else, an not an granate from whatever, no way.
Simply put, this images are to clean.
peace
- Graeme Rymill
  Are the pictures true? Who knows?
  Why pretend though that you have any real knowledge of what a plane should look like if hit or near-missed by a mortar? You analysis is just made up bullshit couched in terms that you think make you sound technically knowledgeable.
  - John Whitehot
    https://cherrieswriter.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/vietnam079-l.jpg?w=616&h=426
    American C-123 hit by mortars in NAM
    - Graeme Rymill
      so what? what does this picture tell us about the recent pictures? nothing!
Langaniso Mhlobo
Western colleagues won’t stop promoting terrorism.
Manuel Flores Escobar
I remember western propagande telling about 4 Russian helicopter destroyed by ISIS artillery attack on one base in Palmyra in 2016…of course it was a fake as russian helicopter were deployed in Homs air base near Shayrat..they posted photoshop image of 4 Syrian Mi 8 out of service parked!
- John Whitehot
  they even claimed a Syrian Mig-25 destroyed in the event, a plane that was lying there since before the start of the war
Wegan
If the ministry of defense denied, then who took the pictures? a Spy?
Gary Sellars
Those photos don’t show aircraft damage due mortars. No sign of fragmentation damage.
Looks to be damage taken from ground fire, ie HMG or cannon shells damaging the tail section which then is torn up due to aerodynamic stresses.
As usual, the goat fuckers are telling lies.
- Graeme Rymill
  A Russian journalist based in Syria seem to think it is true…..does that make him a goat fucker/
  https://twitter.com/NeilPHauer/status/948932801067454464
  - Gary Sellars
    Let me guess… this “journalist”: works for Kommersant, a well known 5th columnist liberast mouth-piece that is notoriously anti-Putin?
    Did this “journalist” actually visit the base?
    How the F do lying pro-terror Russophobe rats like you look in the mirror each morning????? What a prick.
    - Graeme Rymill
      Why are you so desperate to prove that not a single Russian aircraft was so much as scratched? What’s at stake here Gary? Would your world crumble if you found out that it had actually happened? I am sensing a man in crisis. Reach out buddy!
      - Gary Sellars
        Why are you so desperate to prove that terrorists managed to hit Russian warplanes? If anyone is in crisis its your terrorist chums in Idlib.
      - Graeme Rymill
        I don’t know that they have hit Russian warplanes. The evidence is inconclusive. However each new piece of evidence that emerges ( the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmation that some sort of mortar attack did occur; the photos; the Russian journalist confirming the attack) tends to tip the balance toward it actually happening.
      - Gary Sellars
        Alternative interpretation – the jihadis manged to get a few artillery rounds or rockets on target (at least one) and killed 2 personnel. They then inflate the claims for propaganda purposes (and to lift morale while then SAA cuts a ragged swath thru the jihadis in idlib). A Kommersant presstitute then writes a story to further their 5th column agenda (undermining support for anti-terror operations in Syria).
        All things considered, I’d say the story is a BUST.
      - Graeme Rymill
        Denial is one of the stages of grieving Gary….I am here for you buddy…
      - Gary Sellars
        Denial is a river in Egypt. GFY buddy, and stop supporting Jihadi terror agitprop.
      - John Whitehot
        “tends to tip the balance toward it actually happening”
        only for jihadist huggers
  - Gary Sellars
    Stop being a stupid cunt. If the Su-24 had been hit by a HE shell or rocket, it would show CLEAR signs of fragmentation damage. It doesn’t, therefore it wasn’t…
    Don’t be a twat. Admit the truth.
    - Graeme Rymill
      You repeating the same bullshit over and over doesn’t make your bullshit any the more truer Gary.
      - Gary Sellars
        I’m repeating facts in the hope that morons either (a) finally let the penny drop, or (b) finally develop a sense of shame and then cease & desist
      - David Colin Leach
        I don’t profess to be an expert, I am certain neither are you.
        You have no idea what kind of Mortars were used in the attack. You have no idea if they impacted on tarmac/Concrete/soft soil. Simply Too many variables to form a conclusive opinion on the damage of that one Plane.
        How do you know the damage to that Plane was not caused by flying shrapnel from a severely damaged disintegrating Plane next to it ?.That image might be from the least severely damaged Plane at the Base, whose pictures were taken for press release.To play down the severity of the attack.It must have been quite an intense arrack to kill 2 RUaf on the ground.
        Arguing about it is ridiculous. You don’t know any of the facts, other than those reported.
      - Gary Sellars
        “I don’t profess to be an expert” – the only the statement you have made that I can agree with.
        I’m not wasting time repeating the facts. This aircraft damage is NOT consistent with a mortar/artillery/rocket attack on the base. Make of that whatever you will.
      - David Colin Leach
        Fuck me you really do go on,and on,and on. like a broken record,give it a rest for fuck sake,Better still step away from the Keyboard,do your self a favour and go and lie down in a dark room..
      - Gary Sellars
        Thanks for the suggestion, but i’d rather keep fighting the good fight and not relinquish the ground to the forces of Evil.
      - John Whitehot
        “Oh and by the way Roman Saponkov has even had an article he has written republished by SouthFront”
        Oh my, this is SOME assumption!!
      - Graeme Rymill
        Not if you can manage a bit of basic research.
        Go the SouthFront article he wrote: https://southfront.org/suicide-bombers-contest-the-road-to-raqqa/
        At the beginning of the article you will see this: Written by Roman Saponkov; Originally appeared at Zhurnalistskaya Pravda,
        Follow the “Zhurnalistskaya Pravda” link.
        It goes to here: https://jpgazeta.ru/siriya-doroga-na-rakku-bitva-so-smertnikami/
        His Russian name is Роман Сапоньков. It appears at the very bottom of the article. Run it through Google translate if you don’t believe me that Роман Сапоньков = Roman Saponkov.
        Роман Сапоньков is hyperlinked. You are then taken to a long list of articles he has written in Russian on the Syria fighting – https://jpgazeta.ru/authors/?ya=%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%20%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2
        Or are you alleging that there are 2 Russian military journalists in Syria both called Roman Saponkov????
        Simple if you know how…. :-)
      - John Whitehot
        Graeme:
        It’s the internet.
        I don’t do source credibility.
        For what is worth to me, the article could had bear the sign: “Vladimir Putin”.
- David Colin Leach
  Facts are it clearly shows a severely damaged Russian Plane. This after the Kremlin denied any Planes were damaged.
  - Gary Sellars
    When was it damaged? Under what circumstances? If its damage incurred as a result of a mission, its not due to any Jihadi shelling of the base.
    Again, whats this ‘the Kremlin denied any Planes were damaged”. The “kremlin” has done no such thing. They have simply withheld comment until the military were ready to make a statement. They aren’t going to release immediate statements so that the terrorists can evaluate the results of their rockets (especially if the in infiltration team might still be active).
    - PZIVJ
      The rear stabilizer does appear to be torn apart by aerodynamic stress as you said. I noticed the leading edge ripped up going back to the rudder with no other damage around it. And the stabilizer is tilted up for landing the aircraft.
      - John Whitehot
        “And the stabilizer is tilted up for landing the aircraft”
        Are you kidding? if that’s the case the pilot would want to dig a hole in the runway, not land on it.
      - Graeme Rymill
        You have to realize John that PZIVJ like so many that comment on SouthFront is an expert on every aspect of chaos theory, energetic chemical reactions, physics, areodynamics and (not unlike yourself) airfield horticulture!
      - John Whitehot
        Since I know for sure what I’m talking about when I look at the inclination of the aileron, in any case I don’t make any idea about the above user, everybody can do honest mistakes, besides those who are dishonest, the category in which you seem to belong seeing all your stubborness in giving credit to stratfor, or the cia, or whatever.
      - Gary Sellars
        You have to realize Graeme Rymill is a complete pillock…
      - PZIVJ
        Woops, my error :/
David Colin Leach
Russia is embarrassing it self, declaring ISIS defeated, then this attack happening within a few days. Denying said attack occurred. Then accepting said attack occurred, but emphasising no Planes were damaged. Then accepting Planes were damaged.
The death count of Russian soldiers in Syria is rising steadily and unnecessarily. Don’t they patrol the perimeters or anything?, stinks of criminal incompetence too me.
Also what is it with Putin, and Russia ?, every other story on RT/TASS these days is arse licking. We just want to be friends….. you can trash our diplomatic missions, impose crippling sanctions, play whack a Russian soldier in Syria, we will always love you, our love is unconditional. One day you will come to realise you love us too blah blah blah… In the mean time you can keep your illegally obtained piece of Syria, Use it to train up terrorist groups there to launch attacks on Russian soldiers and kill them, We will just pretend it has never happened.Pathetic.
- Gary Sellars
  fake news – the Russian military have not accepted planes are damaged.
  criminal incompetence? pfftt… sounds like another Russophobe clown who can’t handle that the Russian intervention has been EFFECTIVE and the Assad and his people are WINNING! Awwww… wassup kid? having a little tantrum that Russia didn’t get stuck in a “quagmire”? Poor diddums, go to your cot and cry yourself to sleep.
  Geopolitics is a game that must be played in order to win. Murican style “blowing up shit, everywhere” simply invites the same. Putin is playing his hand well, and winning at low cost. Yeah, the US has grabbed Syrian land East of the Euphrates, but it won’t last, nothing but a short term annoyance.
  - David Colin Leach
    Russophbe Clown…..really ?
    You don’t like reading other posters opinions do you ?.
    That’s the trouble with you Putin sycophants; you become touchy when your traitorous idol is criticised. Putin is a NWO/Globalist stooge. His best friend is Nat Rothschild. He calls Henry Kissinger his mentor. Why do you think his past is such a closely guarded State secret?.He was hand picked by Yelstin ?,you connecting the dots yet ?,do I need to remind you who put Yeltsin the drunken buffoon in Charge of Russia ,of course you know. Just like you know who wrote Russia constitution still used in the State Duma Today.
    On Putin watch NATO has encroached on to Russia border. Has Troops positioned all along it from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
    On Putin watch US has deployed land base Cruise Missiles AEGIS in Romania in direct contravention of a historic non proliferation treaty signed by Regan and Gorbachev.
    On Putin watch US deployed THAAD in South Korea that now puts all Russia far Eastern Bases on US radar.
    On Putin watch US financed a coup in Ukraine. A coup in which thousands of ethnic Russian were brutally murdered by Nazis. Many Russians were beaten to death and set on Fire and thrown from windows in Odessa. Putin did nothing. His only notable involvement in Ukraine was to seek safe passage out of the Delatseve cauldron for US/NATO mercenaries surrounded by DPR forces.
    In Syria how many times has Russia been on the brink of defeating ISIS only to hurriedly declare their mission a success and go home? Strange behaviour don’t you think. Even stranger behaviour from Putin was when the FSB located the Israeli/US/NATO ISIS command centre in Allepo.Putin generals wanted to level the building. He refused them permission. A few weeks later he purged his own Generals. Guess who was in that purge ?
    Putin and the Clintons all work for the same globalist masters.They got rich together with Uranium 1.Their relationship goes back years. They conspired to ruin Trump Presidential campaign because Trump is not on their NWO/Globalist team. Trump is the Israeli man in the White House. This is why Iran is suddenly on the menu.
    - Gary Sellars
      Yawn… not sure why you wrote (cut n pasted) all that tripe.
      Oh wait, was I supposed to read it?….
      - David Colin Leach
        fuck off and troll elsewhere you silly unstable tw@t.None so blind than those that refuse to see.
      - Gary Sellars
        I see perfectly fine. I did you the honour of responding to your post (against my better nature) so now be a good little boy and read & learn. You’ll be tested later.
    - Gary Sellars
      Yes, the US has demonstrated its appalling fecklessness. Even so, short of all out war, what do you expect Putin or teh Russian state to do?
      On Ukraine, Russia has done only what is needed. The other option was to invade, which would have been a disaster, both from an economic, financial, geopolitical standpoint. US set out the bait, Russia refused to bite, but has responded asymettrically and frustrated Washington (Crimea is free and part of Russia, BSF bases are secure, Donbass is a bleeding wound in the side of Banderite Ukropistan).
      In Syria, Russia is again doing only what is needed and not mindlessly escalating. With IS finished (mostly) they can now pull out their specialists and let the SAA take over fully, with Russian involvement now limited to RuAF strike missions. Thats a political win for the folks back home, something troops families will appreciate.
      Putin doesn’t work for the globalists. if he did, there wouldn’t be anywhere near the amount of agro and demonisation. Putin has curbed the Oligarchs, broken those who refused to play ball (Berezovsky, Gazinky, Khordorkocsky) and has seriously increased Russian hard power. Russia has outwardly opposed US regime change power plays and has either won (Syria) or drawn (Ukr).
      They conspired to ruin Trump???? Put down the crack pipe…. Russia had NOTHING to do with the US electoral farce, and teh damage to the US reputation is ALL of their own making.
      Agree about iran, but that is about US subseriance to their YidZio masters, and nothing to do with Putin (unless he is secretly the Grand Poobah of AIPAC?).
    - Brad Isherwood
      Not just Putin and the Khazarian Oligarchs…
      Xi of China is Rothschilds BIS Central Bank like Russia.
      Rothschilds forsee the end of big oil
      http://www.france24.com/en/20171212-world-bank-stop-funding-oil-gas-projects-2019-climate
      The USD $ from gold to oil under Nixon is now Global USD $$ from decades print money out of thin air vs the challengers and their basket currency.
      Unless Russia/China can push big Pharma globally out of USD $..there is no chance with increased global Opiates consumption and prescriptions of opium medical products.
      Crime will continue in USD $$
      There is no immediate crisis for Wallstreet and City of London and their computer day trading.
      We are now day 1 with no F’ing heroes. ..
      Putin letting Empire murder his diplomats,shoot down Russian Su 24,
      Give energy and military contests you Erdogan and the grinning idiot MBS of Saudi Arabia.
      It’s like getting photographed in Prostituki
    - TheNerd
      You writing the truth.unpleasant truth,that’s hurts.
    - John Whitehot
      LoL more go away!!
- John Whitehot
  after having caused the death of thousands of US servicemen, the destruction of the lives of other tens of thousands, only to make Israel comfy, and to enforce the global domination of bankers, loan-sharks and profiteers, you have the spine to spew around your bs on Russian servicemen fighting that same infamy?
  There’s one thing I hope more than most: that US servicemen, both active and veteran, realize what YOUR kind has done to them, to their families and their country, and how YOUR kind has used the ideals and the values of the US constitution to wage wars who killed millions and made millions suffer.
  I hope one day I’ll see those same servicemen hang ALL of your kind by the feet, one for every motherfucking tree in a US city and left you there to rot.
  I hate your guts forever.
John Mason
Put your mind at ease, those photos show a wet airstrip. It did not rain when the incident took place, not before or after, fake.
- Graeme Rymill
  The weather history for that day at that location says otherwise…..
  - John Mason
    Weather report: Damascus sunshine from 27 Dec2017.
    https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/syria/damascus/historic
    Latakia; Sunshine from 26Dec2017 (overcast from 28Dec2017)
    https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/syria/latakia/historic
    Note:- No rain.
  - John Mason
    Latakia:- Light rain between 12am and 6am then followed by sunshine, that was on 1 Jan2018. Before and after that date there was no rain.
    Those photos were taken in daylight and it is doubtful they were taken within 24 hours of the supposed incident.
    - Graeme Rymill
      My source says 7mm fell on 31 December:
      https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/OSLK/2017/12/31/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Latakia&req_state=LA&req_statename=Syria&reqdb.zip=00000&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=40022
      - John Whitehot
        the same source says precipitation : NONE on 1 january, which is the day the pics would have been taken. 7mm on the previous day would be absorbed by the runways and they would not look soaked like this
      - Graeme Rymill
        lol…. there is fluid leaking out of one of the planes… it was much more likely to be taken the same day
        Like all your compadres you are an instant expert on every topic known to man. You have no idea how long that water would lie around.
      - John Whitehot
        lol did they trail it around so to leak fluid all over all the runways and tarmacs?? – if you had to say that there are donkeys flying you would say it – believe me, you’ve used up your nickname, time for a change.
      - Graeme Rymill
        John as you have raised the question of nicknames… isn’t it time to change yours to “John Lukewarm”?
      - John Whitehot
        i don’t do nicknames and in any case, i don’t catch the joke.
      - Graeme Rymill
        You didn’t do well with the grass discussion…. best to leave this discussion to the adults…
      - John Whitehot
        i did more than well, but your reply disappeared so i couldn’t answer.
        The reply was like this: “you posted links that show that Hmeyinim has only weeds growing out of desert-like earth, which only proves my original point, as the grass seen in the planes pics is green and uniform, and charachteristic of a much colder climate than Latakia”
      - Graeme Rymill
        lol… so it’s plant biologist Professor John Whitehot!. …
        Identifying grass from those dark, not quite focused photos? Your ability to delude yourself knows no bounds!!!
      - John Whitehot
        Plant biologist.
        Ok, since I’ve proved that the damage on the planes has been taken in the air, we should go back at the facts:
        “there are pics with soviet made planes that took battle damage in the air, at an airbase with grass”.
        please keep banging your feet, perhaps bellingcat or stratfor will send some support.
      - Graeme Rymill
        and even though I sent you 3 lots of photos of grass at Khmeimim you still plod on with this? One of the photos even had green grass… and guess what?…. in winter time brown grass turns… green!!!! Even in Syria!!!
        So this raises the real question:
        Just how far up your arse is your head?
      - John Whitehot
        “and even though I sent you 3 lots of photos of grass at Khmeimim you still plod on with this? One of the photos even had green grass… ”
        It didn’t, not the compact, fresh, blush quality seen in these pics, all the grass seen in those pics was the dry weeds kind.
        “Just how far up your arse is your head?”
        hang yourself on a nail. You lost the point that the aircraft have been damaged by mortars, and you lost your hope to prove that “the Kremlin lies”.
        bitch.
      - Graeme Rymill
        “all the grass seen in those pics was the dry weeds kind.”
        Your 100% certain all grass is dry weeds in my links?
        http://www.talkmedianews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-22-at-1.29.10-PM.jpg
        It looks green to me but i guess I am not a world renowned plant biologist like yourself John….
        You are either lying to me or deceiving yourself. I lean towards the latter: you are so blinkered you would argue black was white and believe it yourself to try and “prove” your case.
      - John Whitehot
        OK. You can keep the “weed” argument for as much as you like.
        Here’s what’s relevant:
        The damage on the depicted planes has been acquired while they were flying. Incontrovertible fact. Do I have to post the enhanced pic again?
        That in itself proves you and your stratfor friends are lying.
        You can keep discussing weeds now.
      - John Whitehot
        Also, this is a pic of the airbase from google earth.
        The picture you posted isn’t anywhere near Latakia, it’s another airbase altogether and God knows where it is.
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b516d4424f59febef14a5af79c9346f82c9d5faccc16a857f46d05c59645e8a0.jpg
      - Graeme Rymill
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1874c8f24764c2dc8730803770ce608e0b634301ac11c89eca2060ced5c7bbab.jpg
        awww… John…. I am so disappointed in you. You said I can keep the “weed” argument and now you go and do this!!!!
        OK… I guess you’ve come to enjoy being shown up as the fool that you so obviously are.
        For crying out loud John… you pretend you’re the big image expert with your Photoshop bullshit and you can’t even match details on a satellite map? Time for you to give up photo analysis and take up knitting.
      - John Whitehot
        “awww… John…. I am so disappointed in you”
        wouldn’t expect nothing else Lmao.
        “For crying out loud John… you pretend you’re the big image expert with your Photoshop bullshit and you can’t even match details on a satellite map?”
        lolololololol
        everybody can run google earth and see by themselves its not photoshopped, just like everybody can run the su-24 pics and see they aren’t as well.
        I wonder when you’ll cease this ridiculous quarrel and move on with your life, ruining your own coronaries because stratfor and bellingcat
        wouldn’t consider your application isn’t a good way to age up.
      - Graeme Rymill
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a20cce2992e35b96dab309fa18ab7b747da3300e80ca49d55bd2468e3cf39db9.jpg
        ummm.. You say my image “isn’t anywhere near Latakia, it’s another airbase altogether”. I show you a Wikimapia screenshot that shows that it is the same air base and you reply is:
        “everybody can run google earth and see by themselves its not photoshopped”
        I am not saying you have photoshopped anything. Where did you get that idea from? I have Google Earth too John. It isn’t rocket science….. here is my Google Earth screenshot. Same as yours – just enlarged.
        Same base… what more can I say? :-)
      - Graeme Rymill
        OK I see why you think I am accusing you of Photoshopping. It is a result of me misunderstanding. When you said “I downloaded the pics, and just ran color enhancing, once for the general picture, twice for the part in the box” I assumed you used Photoshop – not to cheat I hasten to add but to enhance. So my references to Photoshop are in connection with your interpretation of your enhanced images. No accusations of fudging the photos was intended.
      - John Whitehot
        ok ok
      - Graeme Rymill
        So gracious in defeat is our John….
      - John Whitehot
        lmao how would you know.
      - Graeme Rymill
        Let’s try this video for some compact lush green grass:
        http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2018/6-january-vgtrk-video-from-hmeimim-airbase-with-su24-white
        Green enough? Lush enough? I guess I know the answer already: for a true believer like yourself no amount of convincing evidence is ever enough…
      - John Whitehot
        Look, let’s see if you get it this way:
        I don’t give a fuck about the grass.
        The plane in the pics have being proven as not being damaged by mortars. That’s all, case closed.
        This said, Latakia may be the greenest, more grassy spot of the world, you could make six football fields on it but:
        The planes weren’t damaged by mortars.
        Now crawl back in the hole you came out.
      - Graeme Rymill
        You say you don’t give a fuck… but somehow I just don’t believe you John. You keep coming back to it like a scab you just can’t help picking.
        Please man up and admit the grass is sometimes green at the air base and we can be friends again! :-)
      - John Whitehot
        “You keep coming back to it like a scab you just can’t help picking”
        Who? Me?
John Whitehot
So, let’s see if we can put an end to this.
I downloaded the pics, and just ran color enhancing, once for the general picture, twice for the part in the box.
The detail clearly shows damage received from below, and in a moment when the aircraft was FLYING. There can be no doubt about it, nor claims about “experts” or the like.
These pictures are probably documental proofs of two aircraft that received battle damage, in a not named area of operation. It could be Syria, but there the doubt is more than legitimate that it isn’t Syria as, 1- the weather isn’t consistent with reports 2- Other details like the different type of grass from the Hmeyinim base. 3- The resolution of the pictures is low for 2017/18 standard and more consistent with hardware from the early 2000.
That said, my opinion is that they could be aircraft damaged by AAA fire, possibly 23mm cannons, over Chechnya or South Ossetia – or in alternative, over Syria at any moment during the VKS operations in that country.
At any rate, these are NOT parked aircraft damaged by mortars.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46a79aae6744b659f4279d41223eb98b1dea3e44487b19c5a85d0e18b6cea3f1.jpg
- Graeme Rymill
  Educated by the Jesuits were you John? I can’t wait to discuss with you how many angels can dance on the head of a pin…..
gustavo
This is a plane damaged, but there is nothing about big destruction on the airbase ¿ where are the evidences of these planes destroyed ?
Graeme Rymill
Here’s what we do know for sure:
There was a mortar or other projectile attack on the Russian air base. We know this because the Russians offically admitted that 2 Russian servicemen were killed in the attack.
All else is just surmise. The photos may or may not depict mortar damage. They may well, as John Whitehot argues, represent anti-aircraft fire from the ground and therefore have nothing to do with this mortar attack. John has convinced himself through his massive analytical skills that he has divined the truth and that no other explanation is possible. He deludes himself and SouthFront readers. The weather evidence is that it did rain on the day in question. John’s contention that the photos were taken the next day is just a guess masquerading as analysis: it could be true but equally they may well have been taken shortly after the attack. The “grass” evidence John presents is laughable – never has so much been made of so little evidence. The photographs aren’t great – one is a bit blurry and a couple are a bit dark. John argues this means they were taken 10 years ago. I contend they could have been taken 10 years ago or taken on 31 December – the attack occurred late in the day and people do take blurry photos – there is insufficient evidence (type of camera or phone used, etc. etc.) to make any sound judgement on this.
What I surmise is that the attackers were targeting the planes. It makes no sense to attack the air base just to kill a few Russians. That doesn’t mean they must have hit the planes – they could have easily missed. However in the age of google maps it makes sense that the attackers knew where they were firing from and knew where they were aiming for: the crowded flight lines with Russian combat aircraft lined up almost wingtip to wingtip that are feature of just about every satellite photo of the base. It is unlikely that planes were destroyed unless fuel or ammunition was ignited. So they either hit and damaged one or more planes or they missed them all.
Graeme Rymill
The photos that have caused all this fuss came from Roman Saponkov. He is a Russian military journalist apparently based in Syria.
“Speaking to the BBC, he said he had got the photos from a reliable anonymous source.Saponkov
pointed out that the number 29 on a jet’s damaged tail fin also appeared on Russian state TV video of jets at Hmeimim in December.”
Presumably he is accredited with the Russian military if he is in Syria. This makes it unlikely he writes for an anti-Putin news outlet. Someone commented here that he worked for the newspaper Kommersant who broke the original story and who are apparently anti-Putin – there is zero evidence that Saponkov works for Kommersant.
“Posting on the social media site vKontakte, Saponkov listed the losses as: six Su-24s; one Su-35S; one An-72; one An-30 spy plane; and one Mi-8 helicopter. Only one Su-24 and the Su-35S had later been put back into service, he added.”
I am not sure if this means these plane “losses” have been destroyed or just not yet repaired.
Graeme Rymill
Here are some more comments by Saponkov:
In a subsequent post, Saponkov said he had been asked not to report the attack. “Yesterday, I turned out to be the first to give this information, although ‘everyone in the know’ already knew about it. I
even wrote Syrians and expressed condolences. Five different sources asked me ‘not to tell anyone.’ Of course, the Russians, whose citizens were killed in the shelling, are not Syrians and they do not need to
know … ”
“It is not worthwhile to blame our military,” Saponkov added. “The militants were qualitatively prepared, most likely they had foreign technologies. Our people simply did not expect that the militants would
acquire new technology.”
In a follow-up post, Saponkov said that his credibility has been attacked by “pro-Kremlin” bloggers.
https://warisboring.com/did-russia-really-lose-seven-warplanes-in-syria-on-new-years-eve/
- John Whitehot
  warisboring?
  lolololololololololololol.
  objectivity made blog.
Bolter10
It will happen again. Getting close to an airbase with a few mortars is not difficult. It was an ongoing event in Vietnam.
Graeme Rymill
Interesting article on the need to upgrade defences at Khmeimim air base. (not that this proves anything about the mortar attack):
“Hmeymim’s Russian military base needs additional engineering equipment, particularly armed cement shelters for airplanes and other air assets, believes the editor of the Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Voin Rossii (“Soldier of Russia”), Colonel Elena Sevastyanova…….
The military emphasized that attack aircraft should be left not in open parking lots, but in enclosed reinforced concrete shelters that even allow the aircraft’s engine to be activated without leaving them.
This, in turn, ‘helps efficiently defend an aircraft, pilots and technical personnel from destruction as a result of a missile attack or bomb, artillery or mortars.’
Elena Sevastyanova specified that the Pantsir-S1 short-range missile complex, which eliminated two missiles launched against Hmeymim by the terrorists in December 2017, is ineffective in mortar attacks.
‘Air defense systems and complexes do not target mines or artillery ammunition, it seems that it is possible to intercept these ammunition during the flight, but it is best to prevent such attacks with the help of intelligence, including space intelligence, and artillery’, believes the expert.
Thus, says the Russian military, it is best to neutralize the militants before they implant their homemade artillery pieces a few miles from the Russian military facility.
Elena Sevastyanova pointed out that terrorists in Syria probably have at their disposal caliber mortars between 82 and 120 mm.”
[ from https://br.sputniknews.com/defesa/2018010510219341-hmeymim-base-aerea-ataque-morteiro-siria/ and run through Google translate]

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