Video: Syrian Arab Air Force Mil Mi-25 high altitude bomb attack on Daal, Syria.

Published on: July 20, 2012 at 2:00 PM

New videos are emerging of the widespread use of Syrian Arab Air Force Mil Mi-25 dropping bombs on Free Syria Army (FSyA) positions.

The last one comes from Daal, in North East Syria, and (quite clearly) shows the Hind circling above the target area before releasing the bombs.

Noteworthy, whereas all the images of the Mil Mi-8/17 Hip seen in the last months showed the choppers operating even at low altitude, the most recent footages prove that the helicopters (Mi- 25 included) flying at (relatively) high altitude.

This could be the sign that the Assad gunships fear the Anti-Aircraft Artillery fire (even though the accuracy of the inexperienced rebels with these weapons has been poor, to such an extent manuals had to be uploaded on Facebook) or shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles possibly captured by the FSyA.

However there have been no reports or Strela or Igla being used against the Syrian choppers, most probably because regime forces have seized all the MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) from active units to prevent them to end in the rebels hands in case of attack or defection.

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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.
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