Turkish media released unique footage shows Turkey’s armed unmanned aircraft system destroyed a Pantsir-S1 self-propelled combined gun-missile system during its strike on Syrian Arab Army targets on Friday near Idlib.
In the video, an apparently active Pantsir system mounted on its 8×8 truck can be seen sitting placidly as the Turkish munition plunges towards it.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) carried out airstrikes against the Assad regime elements in northwestern Syria’s Idlib early Friday.
Turkish officials reported that during airstrikes were destroyed five Syrian helicopters, 23 armored vehicles, 23 artillery pieces, one Buk-M1-2 medium-range surface-to-air missile system, and one Pantsir-S1 point defense air defense system.
Turkey launches deadly airstrikes against Syrian forces after more than three dozen Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by Syrian government forces near Idlib.
At least 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in air strikes in Syria’s Idlib on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory, a war monitor, reported.
Turkey is a main backer of the Syrian opposition while Russia has been giving military support to the weeks-long Syrian government offensive in Idlib that has displaced about 950,000 people and left hundreds of civilians dead.
Backed by heavy Russian airstrikes, Syrian regime forces have been fighting since the start of the year to recapture the Aleppo countryside and parts of neighboring Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country. The advances have sent hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians fleeing toward the border with Turkey in the biggest single displacement of the nine-year war.
In September 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited. But more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by the regime and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone since then as the cease-fire continues to be violated.
More than 1 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to some intense attacks.
جيش التركي ، دمر نظام الدفاع الجوي Pantir S-1 (Sa-22) الروسي الصنع. يبدو أن رادار النظام فعال..
ميليشيات Wagner الروسية في ليبيا. pic.twitter.com/HRzgeU3MHQ— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 28, 2020