Syrian Army has no offensive planned for Idlib city
[AlMasdar] The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) upcoming offensive in the Idlib Governorate will be limited to only certain parts of the province, a military source in Damascus told Al-Masdar News this weekend.
According to the source, the Syrian Army has offensives planned in northern Latakia, northern Hama, southeast Idlib, and southwest Idlib.
The source said that the offensives in Idlib will be limited to the Al-Ghaab Plain (SW Idlib), Jisr Al-Shughour (SW Idlib), and Abu Dhuhour area (SE Idlib).
He would add that the Syrian Army may push towards the outskirts of Saraqib and Ma’arat Nu’man, but this is still being discussed among the commanders of the Syrian Army and Russian military.
There has been much speculation recently that the Syrian Army would attempt to capture the entire Idlib Governorate; however, the military source said the army has not made these plans.
It appears that the main objective of these offensives is to seal the entire Idlib Governorare border with the Hama and Latakia governorates.
For Russia, retaking Jisr Al-Shughour is their primary objective, as it is the main launching point for the jihadist missiles and drones on the Hmeymim Airbase in southwest Latakia.
Russia vows to wipe out terrorist-run drone assembly workshops in Idlib
[AlMasdar] Russia has information where the terrorists assemble drones in Idlib and it will be eliminating these underground workshops, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the German-Russian forum on Friday.
“We have intelligence information where drones are assembled in Idlib from components smuggled there,” he said. “As soon as we get such information, we will be eliminating such underground workshops that make lethal weapons.”
“What some describe as the beginning of a Russia-supported offensive by the Syrian army is malicious distortion of facts. Both the Syrian forces and we merely react to hit-and-run raids from Idlib,” Lavrov said. “It is very hard to detect drones with ordinary air defense weapons. Many of them are made of wood and cannot be seen on radar screens.”
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on September 5 that two Russian frontline bombers Sukhoi-34 wiped out a Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) workshop in Idlib, where militants assembled attack drones and kept in store ammunition for them.
In the early hours of September 4, air defense systems of the Hmeimim air base shot down two drones the militants hand launched. Both drones were eliminated far away from the base. Over the past month 47 drones have been shot down or neutralized in the area of the Russian base.