On February 27, the Zvezda TV shared a video highlighting some of the Russian Special Forces recent operations and exercises in Syria.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s channel released the video to celebrate the Special Operations Forces Day, which has been a memorial day in Russia since 2015.
The video shows a series of covert operations by the Russian Special Forces against militants the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib. The operations included ambushes, raids as well as attacks with precision weapons such as sniper rifles and anti-tank guided missiles.
The video also included never seen before footage of at least two attacks with Russian loitering munitions on a vehicle and a post of the militants in Greater Idlib.
As expected, the Russian MoD released some new footage of SSO specialists in Syria and conducting a variety of training exercises for SSO day. Most notable, is the likely first footage of a Russian loitering munition used in combat (presumably in Syria).https://t.co/VQIuMyTMKd pic.twitter.com/iSKKdXwl26
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) February 27, 2021
Warning: graphic video. There’s a second clip from the video that is likely also a loitering munition used in Syria. This time it appears to be either a Lancet-1 or Lancet-3. 3/ pic.twitter.com/k3Hgg1zQf9
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) February 27, 2021
Experts said that the loitering munitions seen in the video were likely a variant of the ZALA Lancet, which was revealed by the Kalashnikov Concern around two years ago.
Over the last year, activists in Greater Idlib reported several strikes with loitering munitions on militants in the region. The most recent strike, which took place on February 11, destroy a pickup truck of the Turkistan Islamic Party in northern Lattakia.
The Russian military gained much experience from its anti-terrorism operations in Syria. Several new weapon systems, including loitering munitions, were tested. A number of older systems were also upgraded.
