US Shipping More Arms for Terrorists to Attack Russian Base in Syria

The Arabic section of RT said that it was the US that delivered the Russia-made cannons to the terrorists, adding that the cannons were possibly Fasiluk made in the soviet era.

It went on to say that the Russia-made cannon, weighing less than 630 kg, can be easily moved, adding that its effective rang is 8 km.

The sources said that as the Syrian Army does not have such cannon, the terrorists have probably procured the weapon via the Turkish border, providing enough back up for the Russian officials' remarks that accused Washington of being behind the attack on Humeimim base.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that two military servicemen were killed in late December mortar shelling of the Humeimim airbase in Syria by militants.

"On December 31, 2017, at nightfall, the Humeimim airfield came under a sudden mortar fire from a mobile militant subversive group. Two military servicemen were killed in the shelling," the ministry said.

Ministry also stated that reports on seven aircraft destroyed by militants at the Humeimim airbase in Syria on December 31 are not true.

"A report in the Kommersant newspaper on the alleged destruction of seven Russian warplanes at the Humeimim airbase is fake. Russia’s air group in Syria is combat ready and continues to accomplish all its missions in full," the ministry added.

The Kommersant newspaper earlier wrote citing some sources that on December 31 militants from one of terror groups shelled the Humeimim airbase with mortars destroying four Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, two Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jets, one Antonov An-72 transport plane and an ammunition depot. According to the paper, more than ten military servicemen could be injured.

The Russian air campaign in support of anti-terrorist efforts by the Syrian authorities lasted from September 2015 to December 2017. In mid-December, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Humeimim Airbase to announce the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.

Russia played a vital role in the defeat of ISIL, Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) and other terror groups in the country. According to the Defense Ministry, around 60,000 militants were eliminated during the operation.

The Syrian army said last week that it seized a large volume of American-made weapons and ammunition from the terrorists during the mop-up operations in Deir Ezzur.

While purging terrorists from different districts of the city of Deir Ezzur, the army units gained access to a large cache of mortar rounds, different types of machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and shoulder-mounted rockets, including some manufactured by the US.

The army forces also seized wireless and radio broadcasting stations in one of ISIL's headquarters while purging terrorists from al-Sayyal village in the outskirts of Albu Kamal city East of Deir Ezzur.