First video of a Syrian helicopter gunship attacking rebels near Azaz, northwest of Aleppo

The following video, brought to my attention by Bjørn Holst Jespersen shows a Syrian Mi-8/17 Hip attacking civilians/rebels near Azaz, some 30 km nortwest of Aleppo, Syria.

After many videos uploaded to Youtube showing drones spying on the oppositors at Homs, and the footage of a Mig-23MS (probably a decoy) hit on the ground at the Abu-Dhahur airbase this is the first one I’ve seen so far of a loyalist helicopter using a mounted side machine gun to attack the oppositors.

Noteworthy, what seems to be a sort of anti-aircraft fire (ground to air fire) can be seen at the end of the video.

According to the title, the video was taken on Mar. 22, 2012.

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.