(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian resistance observatories mentioned that T4 military airport in central Homs province was put in service on Friday after three months of maintenance work.
During the three months, the Sukhoi 22 and Sukhoi 24 airplanes assigned to T4 were taking from nearby al-Shayrat airbase in Homs. A manager of an opposition observatory confirmed to Zaman al-Wasl that the last take off for the T4 airplanes from al-Shayrat airport happened on Thursday. The source added, the T4 airplanes of type Sukhoi 22 and Sukhoi 24 used to pass over Homs’ northern countryside on route to northern Syria. Following their return to the T4 airbase, with their technical crews, the warplanes are flying to northern Syria from Homs’ eastern countryside.
The airplane traffic was completely halted in T4 3 months ago for maintenance work to be undertaken on the landing and take-off runways, as well as repairs to the sections of the airbase damaged after a fire broke out in May 2016.
The fire led to the incineration of four helicopters, suspected to be Russian, stationed in the airbase. An aerial engineer who worked in the base for several years spoke previously to Zaman al-Wasl explaining, “T4 airbase includes five squadrons of Sukhoi and MiG warplanes distributed as following: A squadron of MiG 25, a coordinator that went out of service a year before the start of the Syrian revolution, a squadron of Sukhoi 22 that number 23 airplanes, and a squadron of Sukhoi 24 that number 10 airplanes.”
The engineer indicated that the Sukhoi airplanes are considered the regime’s strongest and most destructive air crafts. The warplanes can carry up to 8 tons, and they use 9000 liters of fuel in a single air raid.
The engineer confirmed that the Sukhoi 24 central maintenance center is in T4 which means the regime’s most dangerous air crafts would be stopped if the resistance gains control of the airbase.
Sukhoi 22 maintenance is carried out in al-Shayrat airbase which is situated 45 kilometers west of T4 airbase.
T4 is distinguished by its vast size reaching around 50 kilometers squared, the existence of two runways each three kilometers long, and its heightened security as airbase is guarded by Special Forces unit and Republic Guard unit. The airbase is host to a large cache of air craft fuel, and some of the cache’s locations are known to those working in the base while others are hidden.
The engineer explained that the airport also includes a number of helicopters to transport pilots to Homs with their families. The aerial transportation became necessary as the Free Syrian Army killed nine pilots since the start of the revolution close to al-Farqalas area as they headed to Homs city.
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