Battlefield Syria - Men Against Planes: The Intense Air Strikes Of The Syrian Air Force | Syria War. Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War most causalities where caused due to artillery fire and the fierce attacks of the Syrian air force in the form of air strikes and barrel bombs. While up to mid-2012, the Syrian air force only was involved in secondary roles, with no firing from aircraft and helicopters the situation changed drasticaly since July 2012 when the first fixed-wing aircraft attacks held out by government forces where reported and also recorded by opposition activist groups. Now the daily air raids of the Syrian Arab Airforce have become the most comon way to deal with large numbers of rebel presence in opposition held territories in cities and rural areas. Over the past month the Syrian air force launched about 1,592 strikes across Syria. Since Oct. 20 air raids began to have intensified in Hama, Deraa, Idlib, Aleppo and Quneitra provinces as well as the Damascus countryside and the capitals suburbs itself such as Jobar and Darayya. It is most likely that the increase of Syrian airstrikes comes with the Syrian militarys intention to once more weaken the rebel forces before they get training and equipment promised by the United States. The rebels on the other hand are mostly helpless against the air superiority of the Syrian regime with nearly no air defence capabilities. Since the United States refused to supplie Stinger missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons to moderate rebel groups in large numbers due to the risk that these weapons could fall into the hands of more radical groups, the rebels primarily have to relie on anti-aircraft guns such as the ZU-23. However the rebels increased the number of anti-aircraft equipment, overtaking different air defense sites and warehouses while receiving shipments of Chinese and Russian sourced material from external sponsors. This led to several Syrian Air Force jets and helicopters being shot down. In spite of occasional shoot-downs, however, the Syrian Air Force remained largely unchallenged with a good overall combat efficiency and a superior fear factor recognized by the rebels themselves so the most successful way for the rebels seems to sneak on regime air bases and attack the planes with ground to ground missle systems like the TOW or ATMG while they are still on the ground. That is one reason Airports in Syria count to the most heavy contested battlefields since the begining of the civil war. The Syrian Arab Air Force was established in 1948 and has an actuall strenght of approximately 760 aircraft and 60,000 men (including 20,000 reserve). The armory is constituted of various aircrafts such as the MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, Mig-29, Su-22, Su-24 planes and helicopters such as the Mi-8, Mi-17 and the Mi-24 also a lot of other aircrafts are used for training and reconnaissance purposes. Compared to modern Western air forces fighting against similarly armed enemies, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Syrian Air Force's main disadvantage is the low to nil number in precision guided weapons which allow the aircraft to stay out of range of small arms fire, AAA and MANPADS, while delivering an effective strike. The same weakness prevents them from being able to hit multiple targets of opportunity in the same mission. However in 2014 Jane´s Defence and Combat Aircraft Monthly reported of some MiG-29 and possibly some Su-24 jets capable of launching precision guided ammunitions. Syrian pilots are forced to spend most of their flying time at low to medium altitudes where battlefield threats are more potent. Based on the aircraft type, Syrian pilots use different attack techniques to deliver their unguided munitions: while some use dive attack tactics, initially fast jets were generally performing a low to medium altitude bombing run at high speed deploying a sequence of flare thermal decoys to defend against IR homing missiles and pulling up after ordnance delivery. According to the Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) claims since the conflict began the Syrian military lost 37 helicopters and 24 jets. 40 aircraft were shot down, and 21 were destroyed in opposition attacks on military airports. According to Strategy Page, nearly a hundred fixed wing and over a hundred helicopters have been lost. Public observation via Google Earth of Syrian airfields during the conflict indicates a steady attrition of Syrian Air Force capability. The hubs of Syrian Air Force basing activity during the Syrian Civil War have been the airfields at Aleppo, Damascus, Latakia and Hama. This footage is part of an war archvie of the war in Syria and should be viewed as educational. This footage is not meant to glorify war or violence.

• published: 24 Nov 2014
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