PHOTO: Russian Mi-24 helicopter operating in an undisclosed location in Syria (TASS)


UPDATE, MAY 25: Syrian activists have cast doubt on the claims by Stratfor and the BBC of an Islamic State attack causing the destruction of Russian helicopters and trucks.

The activists say that the Islamic State only noted the explosion at the Tiyas airbase and did not claim responsibility. They say that accidential explosions of ammunition have occurred often at regime bases, due to poor storage or carelessness.

The activists say the Assad regime may have spread the story of an ISIS assault to cover up the accident.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Islamic State has destroyed an entire Russian helicopter division and 20 supply trucks in an attack on the Tiyas (T4) airbase in central Syria, according to a US-based analytic group.

The BBC obtained satellite imagery of the airbase and showed it to an analyst for Stratfor, Sam Tuck:

The Islamic State reportedly attacked the airbase two weeks ago, as part of an offensive in which it captured two major gas fields in eastern Homs Province. ISIS’s Amaq News Agency said at the time that four Russian attack helicopters and 20 trucks loaded with rockets had been destroyed in a fire set by an Islamic State attack. Pro-regime accounts spoke of an explosion in an ammunition depot.

The Tiyas airbase is one of the most important for Syria’s air force. As Russia expanded last autumn’s aerial intervention, it moved helicopters beyond its main airbase in Latakia Province in western Syria to Homs Province and near Qamishli in northeastern Syria.

Read the original Stratfor analysis, with a series of satellite images