Shayrat and Tiyas airbase ambush

See also: Siege of Homs

Shayrat and Tiyas airbase ambush
Part of the early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war
Date 25 November 2011 Location Tiyas and Shayrat, Homs Governorate, Syria Result FSA victory Ambush successful
Belligerents
Free Syrian Army	Syrian Air Force
Casualties and losses
None	10 killed

The Shayrat and Tiyas airbase ambush was an armed attack on Shayrat Airbase and the Tiyas Military Airbase in the Homs Governorate by the Free Syrian Army on 25 November 2011, during the Syrian civil war. As the Syrian government had banned foreign journalists from entering the country, the exact location of the attack is unknown, although it was believed to have been at a military airbase in Homs Governorate between Homs and Palmyra,^[1] possibly at the military airfield at 34°31′30″N 37°37′22″E. Ten Syrian Air Force personnel were killed.

The attack

On the morning of 25 November 2011, members of the Free Syrian Army, composed mostly of regular Syrian army defectors, attacked a bus carrying pilots and other personnel of the Syrian Air Force. Scramble.nl indicated that possible locations of the attack were the Shayrat and Tiyas airbases. Ten Syrian Air Force personnel were killed, including "six elite military pilots", one technical officer and three other base personnel.^[2]

The Syrian military confirmed that the ambush had taken place. A spokesman on state television said that "an armed terrorist group undertook an evil assassination plot that martyred six pilots, a technical officer and three other personnel on an air force base between Homs and Palmyra." The spokesman vowed revenge and claimed the attack was proof of foreign involvement in the uprising.^[3]

The Free Syrian Army claimed seven military pilots were killed in the ambush.^[4]

References

1. "Al Jazeera Syria live blog". Al JazeeraBlogs. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
2. "Syria: Elite Military Pilots Reportedly Killed in Ambush". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
3. Syria: Six Elite Pilots 'Killed In Ambush'
4. "More civilians killed by Syrian forces; U.N. voices alarm at torture of children". Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2014.