Russian and Syrian fighter jets have conducted a joint aerial patrol over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and participated in real combat conditions against mock enemy warplanes and unmanned military aircraft.
Faraan: Syria’s official news agency SANA said the mission involved Russia’s Sukhoi Su-24, Su-34 and Su-35 twin-engine fighter bombers, besides six Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 and MiG-29 aircraft belonging to the Syrian Air Force. Back on January 24, Syria and Russia held joint aerial patrols along Syria’s borders, including over the Golan Heights.
According to a Russian Defense Ministry statement cited by Interfax news agency at the time, the patrol involved fighter, fighter bombers and early warning and control aircraft. The first phase of the exercise in Syrian Desert involved Russia’s Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters and Kamov Ka-52 combat helicopters, while Syria used the Mil Mi-24 helicopters. Russia launched its airstrikes against Takfiri terrorists in Syria at the request of the Damascus government.
Late last month, Russia dispatched attack helicopters and fighter jets to its base in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah upon a request from the Damascus government. The decision came only days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s determination to support Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network said then that Russia had sent reinforcements to its airbase near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli as part of a military buildup. Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya says US and European sanctions on Syria are to blame for Syria’s widespread humanitarian crisis.
In 1967, Israel waged a full-scale war against Arab territories, during which it occupied a large swathe of Golan and annexed it four years later – a move never recognized by the international community.
In 1973, another war broke out and a year later a UN-brokered ceasefire came into force, according to which Tel Aviv and Damascus agreed to create a buffer zone in Golan. However, Israel has over the past several decades built dozens of illegal settlements in Golan in defiance of international calls for the regime to stop its illegal construction activities.
In a unilateral move rejected by the international community in 2019, former US president Donald Trump signed a decree recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over Golan. Russia and Syria have held joint naval drills near Russia’s naval facility in the eastern Mediterranean. Nevertheless, Syria has repeatedly reaffirmed its sovereignty over Golan, saying the territory must be completely restored to its control. The United Nations has also time and again emphasized Syria’s sovereignty over the territory.