Combat aircraft

set. Within hours, the convoy of additional

bridging equipment arrived on the banks

of the Euphrates, south of the Syrian city

of Deir ez-Zor, and a squad of Russian

Army engineers set about building a 650ft

(200m) bridge across one of the world’s

most strategically important waterways.

But if the Russians thought this would be

easy, they were mistaken.

A Russian engineer o cer subsequently

told a Moscow television station that

as soon as his men started work the IS

drone squadron returned to harass them,

dropping mortar bombs, grenades and

other improvised explosives. They tried

to hide their work by setting up smoke

generators to belch out huge clouds of

white smoke in a bid to blind the IS drone

bombers. Two days later the bridge was

built, allowing Syrian tanks to pour across

the Euphrates to take the battle to IS, but

the operation was not without cost. A

Russian lieutenant general and a Russian

colonel working as advisors with the

Syrian Army were killed. Moscow blamed

enemy shell re, but pictures emerged of

the Russian o cers helping to operate

the ferries at the bridging site, leading to

speculation they might have been killed

in a drone raid.

That IS would turn to converted hobby

drones to try to bomb Russian Army

In September,  ghters of so-called Islamic State mobilized

a squadron of ‘drone bombers’ in a last-ditch bid to hold

o defeat in eastern Syria. Combat Aircraft reports on the

innovative uses of air power in a 21st-century con ict.

report: Tim Ripley

END

GAME?

S

YRIAN ARMY ENGINEERS

are steering a Russian-

made tank ferry to the

far bank of the River

Euphrates in a bid to

expand their bridgehead

on the eastern shore. Overhead a small

hobby drone  own by the so-called

Islamic State (IS) is watching the slow-

moving ferry push o from the bank. In

the video footage, the crew of the ferry

can be seen looking up at the drone.

Then a mortar bomb is released. One

side of the ferry is engulfed in smoke as

the bomb explodes. The Syrian soldiers

run away from the detonation and none

appear to be caught in the blast.

This remarkable video clip was released

by the IS-linked Amaq news agency in

a bid to show IS supporters around the

world that its  ghters were still resisting

attempts to wipe out its ‘caliphate’, as it

dubbed its mini-state in Iraq and Syria.

A few days later, a giant Russian

Aerospace Forces An-124-100 strategic

airlifter arrived at Khmeimim air base in

Syria to begin o oading more bridging

equipment. Two 36-ton PMM-2M self-

propelled ferries emerged, along with

Kamaz trucks carrying a MARM bridging

COMBAT REPORT | FIGHTING ISLAMIC STATE

http://www.combataircraft.net

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