The participation of our servicemen in ground hostilities in Syria is one of the most closed topics. Initially, the Ministry of Defense emphasized that only the aviation of the Aerospace Forces operates in the Arab Republic, there was even an official definition of "the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria." Although the first videos and photographs from the Khmeimim base clearly showed that in addition to aircraft there were tanks, armored personnel carriers and marines. And after a while, from the report of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, it became clear that Russian artillerymen also help the Syrians on the ground.
In 2016, in a speech dedicated to rewarding campaign participants, Vladimir Putin admitted that Special Operations Forces are working on the ground in Syria. It was they who provided the target designation of the Russian military aviation. In 2016-2017, there were several reports of the deaths of our servicemen in battle. As the Ministry of Defense officially announced, they acted as advisers to the government army.
In the summer of 2016, units of Russian sappers appeared in Syria. Their task was to clear the Palmyra, which had just been recaptured from the militants. Later, sappers took part in the cleanup of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. Military police have previously been present at the Khmeimim airbase and at the logistics center of the Navy in Tartus, but in December last year, an entire VP battalion was brought in to stabilize the situation in the liberated areas. Later, additional units of the VP were transferred here.
At the final stage of the defeat of IS, the Russian command sent pontoon units to Syria, which ensured the rapid crossing of the Euphrates by Syrian troops in the Deir ez-Zor region.
But in addition to official messages, various photographs and videos with our fighters in Syria were regularly published on the Internet. Moreover, information appeared in local social networks that it was Russian military advisers who became an important element of the victory over the "Islamic State" (prohibited in our country). The video shows the work of our artillery units. And in 2016, foreign journalists were able to film a certain mixed armored group, which included several T-90 and BTR-82. The crews were manned by Russians.
Marine - the guarantor of safety
The Marines were the first to appear in Syria. They were servicemen of the 810th brigade of the Black Sea Fleet. It was in its composition that the first dead Russian military man Alexander Pozynich was included. He acted as part of a search and rescue squad that rescued the crew of the Su-24 front-line bomber shot down by the Turks.
The task of the Marines was to guard the base and defend it from possible attacks from land. As the experience of the war in Afghanistan has shown, even unintended missiles can paralyze the work of aviation and inflict significant damage. On June 23, 1988, at an airfield in Kabul, one missile led to the death of eight Su-25 attack aircraft. The Marines were assisted by T-90 tanks: judging by the photographs, the tankers occupied commanding heights, from where they could cover the approaches to the Khmeimim airbase. Search and rescue of flight crews became another task.
According to information from various media resources and social networks, in the winter of 2015-2016, units of the 7th Airborne Assault Division and the 34th Motorized Rifle Brigade appeared in Syria. These military units carry the mountain rifle attachment, their personnel are trained and specially equipped for warfare in difficult mountainous terrain, just such that surrounds the Khmeimim airbase. Mountain shooters appeared in Syria immediately after the death of the Russian front-line bomber Su-24. Then the possible invasion of the Turkish military was considered quite possible, and in the event of such a development of the situation, they would have to go to Khmeimim along the roads in the mountains.
Apparently, the task of protecting Russian bases in Syria until the withdrawal of troops remained with the Marines. In particular, on December 16, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued an official statement that, on the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Russian Defense Minister encouraged the servicemen who ensured Vladimir Putin's visit to Syria on December 11. This, as indicated in the message, is the Marine Corps units covering the most dangerous areas of sabotage outside the Khmeimim airbase on land and from the sea.
Russian marines and paratroopers took an active part in escorting convoys with humanitarian supplies and guarded journalists. While performing these tasks, one soldier was killed and several were wounded. We lost one armored car "Tiger", its photos were published by the film crew of the ANNAnews TV channel.
"Terminators" and "Solntsepeki"
Our artillery appeared in Syria almost simultaneously with the aircraft of the Aerospace Forces. The first photographs of towed Msta-B howitzers, as well as loaders, radio stations and KShM in the province of Latakia, could be found on the Web back in the fall of 2015. A report from the Russian military department later indicated that a battery from the 120th artillery brigade was operating in Syria. The main caliber of this military unit is the 152-mm Msta-B.
In February 2016, an artillery unit equipped with towed howitzers hit the lenses of a CNN film crew in the Palmyra area. Four-axle armored KamAZ-63501 served as tractors, and the gunners were dressed in "hills" and field uniforms EMP (uniform camouflage colors). With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that these were Russian servicemen.
The artillerymen were covered by a combined armored group of several T-90 tanks, as well as BTR-82A armored personnel carriers. Although the journalists were filming from a fairly long distance, the video clearly shows that the crews, like their fellow artillerymen, are dressed in "hills" and EMPs.
Before the first liberation of Palmyra in the summer of 2016, the combined armored group and howitzer crews appeared several more times in photographs and videos.
The next time Russian artillerymen were spotted in May this year in the Hama area. A unit equipped with Msta-B was also operating there. True, this time the artillerymen did without armored cover.
This summer, a tank support combat vehicle, the BMPT, was sent to Syria. Judging from the photographs and videos, the Terminator was also operated by Russian military personnel or civilian specialists from Uralvagonzavod. The BMPT acted in the most responsible direction - it supported the Syrian troops advancing towards Deir ez-Zor.
It can be concluded that the Russian artillerymen and armored vehicles were a kind of reserve for the commander of our group. They were transferred to qualitatively reinforce the Syrian troops in the most critical areas.
At the beginning of the operation, the Russian Federation handed over to Damascus the TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy flamethrower systems. The vehicles were active in battles in northwestern Syria, and then appeared in the Palmyra region. Moreover, the militants reported the destruction of one "Solntsepek". A video of the defeat of a certain rocket launcher by the Kornet anti-tank missile system served as evidence. True, after some time it became known that the MLRS BM-21 "Grad" of the Syrian army was hit by the militants. Later, the "Solntsepeks" paved the way for the troops advancing on Deir ez-Zor. There was information that TOS-1A were transferred to the Syrian side from the stocks of the RF Armed Forces. However, later there were reports that the "Solntsepeki" still belonged to Russia.
The righteous Chechen trace
Units and subdivisions of the military police appeared in the Russian army relatively recently, and actions in Syria became their baptism of fire. Deployed in the country back in 2015, they carried out direct protection of the Khmeimim airbase, and later the naval base in Tartus. Marines and paratroopers occupied the outer defense circle of the facilities, while police officers operated within the perimeter. Red berets patrolled the territory, guarded aircraft and helicopter stands, and served at checkpoints. Another task of the police was to maintain law and order and military discipline at Russian military installations.
But in December 2016, several IDP battalions were brought into Syria, whose task was to stabilize the situation in the Aleppo, Damascus and a number of other settlements. The decision to deploy them was made directly by the Supreme Commander. The subdivisions were formed on the basis of special-purpose battalions of the 42nd motorized rifle division, 19 and 166th motorized rifle brigades. These BSpN belonged to the so-called ethnic, that is, they were recruited mainly by military personnel from the North Caucasus - Chechens, Ingush, Dagestanis. As Vladimir Putin explained at a recent press conference, this choice was not made by chance. The military personnel of these battalions are predominantly Sunnis - co-religionists for the majority of Syrians. In addition, the units had solid combat experience. Although in Syria, the military personnel of the IDP only once directly participated in hostilities. In the fall of this year, a platoon of police officers stopped the breakthrough of the Islamists in the province of Hama. Then the soldiers of the Special Operations Forces and attack aircraft came to the rescue. The policemen left the encirclement without loss.
They ensured the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, the work of Russian doctors, and maintained law and order in the liberated territory. Became the main defense of the Russian centers for reconciliation of the parties deployed in Syria. They had to act under the strict supervision of foreign media.
Also, the military police were entrusted with the tasks of combat training of Syrian colleagues. In particular, Russian red berets taught the wards tactics, conducted fire and physical training classes.
It was the VP units that became the first military units of the RF Armed Forces to be massively equipped with Typhoon armored vehicles. These vehicles do not carry weapons - instead of them flashing lights and the words "Military Police".
War of "engineers"
An equally difficult task fell on the Russian engineering troops. In 2015, they carried out a large amount of work to prepare the Khmeimim airbase to receive equipment. The sappers created a protective perimeter around.
The next task was the clearance of Palmyra, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. In addition to the military personnel of the International Mine Action Center (MPMC), fighters from several engineering brigades were involved in this work. They coped with the task, but several servicemen received explosive wounds.
Our specialists have done a great job of training Syrian sappers. The MPMC has deployed several training facilities in the country, where the SAR soldiers trained to neutralize and remove mines and improvised explosive devices. Over the current year, Russian engineers have trained and fully equipped several Syrian mine action teams.
The pontoon units did a great job. Last autumn, a pontoon fleet was transferred to Syria by military transport aircraft. Having made a march, the sappers on the move turned the ferry across the Euphrates. They had to act under fire - the militants used quadcopters to strike the pontoon bridge.
Polite and classified
The Russian Special Operations Forces and military advisers have become the most important tool in the defeat of IS. In many ways, they decided the outcome of the war, but, unfortunately, their activities are classified as "Top Secret" and the general public knows practically nothing about their successes.
The first MTR fighters appeared in Syria even before the official entry of Russian troops there. It is now known that "polite people" were engaged in aiming aircraft at jihadist targets. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken about this. A unique operation was the rescue in 2015 of the navigator of a front-line bomber shot down by the Turkish Air Force. Then, with the help of local Syrian troops, the pilot was found and evacuated.
MTR units also participated directly in the hostilities. They carried out night raids on objects and command posts of militants. Snipers and groups armed with anti-tank missile systems worked actively.
Several videos have appeared on Syrian social networks showing Russian "polite people" acting in conjunction with units of the SAR government forces. In general, like military advisers, special forces were maximally involved in ground operations and worked in contact with the Syrian military.
The death of only one soldier of the Special Operations Forces, Alexander Prokhorenko, was officially recognized. But on various information resources, several investigations were published on the loss of "polite people" in Syria. How many MTR fighters actually died in the line of duty remains classified information.
Russian military advisers have appeared in Syria since the first day of the operation. These are officers and contract soldiers of motorized rifle, tank, reconnaissance and airborne units and subunits of the RF Armed Forces. They were tasked with training local military personnel. Advisers also acted at the headquarters of the brigades, divisions and corps of the Syrian armed forces.
In one of the reports of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, the work of the staff advisers in the Deir ez-Zor area was shown in detail. Russian officers were involved in planning aviation strikes, transmitting the coordinates of objects, assigning a squad of forces, and analyzing data from drones.
Little is known about those who acted directly with the Syrian military on the front line. The effectiveness of their work can only be judged by social networks. According to the Syrians, the Russian military not only helped them, but at times also participated in hostilities.
It was from social networks that it became known about the death of a Russian paratrooper officer in battles in the Palmyra region. The Ministry of Defense admitted several more losses of military advisers. In particular, in September of this year, Lieutenant General Valery Asapov was killed as a result of a mortar attack in the Deir ez-Zor region. And a year ago near Aleppo - Colonel Ruslan Galitsky.
Based on the available information, one can draw a very flattering conclusion for our army. We have deployed a small ground force in Syria - even with military advisers, the scale of participation of the Russian ground forces is very small. But despite this, the RF Armed Forces managed to solve a large number of tasks with minimal losses. The main forces of IS were defeated, Khmeimim and Tartus were not subjected to any shelling. Palmyra, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor have been cleared of mines, and normal life has been established in the cities.
