Thursday, May 18, 2017

Syria: US carries out Air-strike on Syrian armoured convoy advancing on a US special forces position.

(Damascus)  The US has admitted to carrying out an air-strike on a Syrian army convoy which was advancing down the main Damascus-Baghdad highway towards a forward US/UK base where they have been training Kurds for a while now.



The convoy of 27 tanks made up of Syrian and Iranian backed militia had taken no heed of a message sent by the US to the Russians in which to get the Syrians to stop their advance towards the US and UK special forces base at al-Tanf which is close to the Iraqi/Syrian border crossing. A 34-mile defensive/ deconfliction zone exists around the base, and the Syrian/Iranian forces advanced 15 miles inside that.
This was followed by a warning flypast, which was followed up by warning shots fired when no notice was taken by the advancing armoured column.  After all these attempts had failed, permission was taken to target the convoy. Several regime tanks and trucks were reportedly destroyed.

This was the second incident involving Syrian forces (and friends) and the base at Al Tanf. The other incident involved an unarmed Syrian SU-22 fighter-bomber which entered the deconfliction zone and was intercepted by a pair of F-22 fighters and politely shown the way home.

The Syrian army and Iranian-backed militia moved hundreds of troops with tanks to the town of Sabaa Biyar on Monday which is in the Badia, and is near the strategic Damascus-Baghdad highway. The deployment is part of the effort to recapture former IS-held areas by Syrian government forces, thereby preventing them from being controlled by US-backed rebels,


Update
The Syrian Army has admitted they were hit and have stated the following:
A convoy of five T-62 tanks were hit by the U.S. Coalition.Two tanks were destroyed. A Shilka was damaged (ZSU23/4) Six military personnel were killed and another three were wounded. Convoy consisted of soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), National Defense Forces (NDF), Hezbollah, and Imam Al-‘Ali Battalions.

Point of interest regards the use of T62 tank.. Whilst the Russians have made a huge song and dance about the invincibility of the T90 tank and have handed a few over to the Syrian Army. The vast majority of armour sold to Syria these past few months have been T62M tanks. 
The T-62M is an improved version of the Soviet T-62 tank with extra protection and mobility improvements and the “Volna” fire control system. It is fitted with a BDD appliqué armour package, an additional belly armour plate for anti-mine protection, 10 mm thick reinforced rubber side skirts and 10 mm thick anti-neutron liner.
T62M (Note BDD armour. Nicknamed “Brow” armour because of its resemblance to
Lenin’s thick eyebrows)

Side angle of BDD armour