Russia says military thwarts drone attacks in Syria

A senior Russian military official said on Sunday the country's military base in Syria had intercepted attacks by drones.

According to Yuri Borenkov, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, Russian servicemen at the air base in Syria's Hmeimim in the northwestern province of Latakia repulsed drone attacks from the militant-controlled Idlib de-escalation zone.

Russian state news agency Tass said the attack took place at 10 pm local time on Saturday, and the "airspace control tools of the Russian air base at Hmeimim stopped a cluster of unmanned aerial vehicles".

The base's electronic warfare systems took over control of the UAVs and deactivated their control system, Borenkov said.

No one was hurt in the attack, he added, and no damage was reported at the base.

Four de-escalation zones were established in Syria under an agreement reached by the three Syrian cease-fire guarantor nations－Russia, Iran and Turkey－in May 2017.

Three of them are now controlled by Damascus while the fourth one in the Idlib governorate and partially in the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo governorates is still outside Damascus' control, with a larger part of it being seized by Jabhat al-Nusra group, which was listed as a terrorist organization by Russia.

The attack is the latest targeting of the base by the rebels in the nearby areas in Idlib.

Hmeimim air base has been the target of Syrian rebels' drones, which are usually flown from the nearby rebel-held Idlib Province in northwestern Syria.

Borenkov said armed groups continued to violate the cease-fire in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

"Thirty two shelling attacks were reported today," he said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said foreign countries were using reconnaissance aircraft and drones on its border.

More than 25 foreign aircraft and 8 drones were spotted on reconnaissance missions near Russian borders last week, but Russia clarified that its fighter jets were not scrambled to intercept them, Russia's Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper reported.

Krasnaya Zvezda reported that these drones near the Russian border may also be linked to the Syrian situation and Turkey-Russian relations.

Turkey and Russia reached an agreement over Idlib in September 2018, but Turkey now says that it is being violated.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Idlib has become a haven for militants targeting Syrian troops and a Russian air base in Syria.

Peskov said Russia was fully compliant with its obligations in Idlib, but that it was deeply concerned about the "aggressive militant attacks" on Syrian government forces and Russia's Hmeimim air base.