None 10 killed Result Ambush successful | Date 25 November 2011 | |
Similar Rif Dimashq offensive, May 2012 battle of Rastan, Rif Dimashq offensive, Rif Dimashq offensive, Western al‑Hasakah offensive | ||
The Shayrat and Tiyas airbase ambush was an armed attack on a Syrian Air Force base in Homs Governorate by the Free Syrian Army on 25 November 2011, during the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising. As the Syrian government banned foreign journalists from entering the state, the exact location of the attack is unknown, although it is believed to have been at a military airbase in Homs Province between Homs and Palmyra, possible 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 (regular Syrian army defectors), attacked a bus which was carrying pilots and other air force personnel. Scramble.nl indicates that possible locations of the attack are 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.
The Syrian military admitted 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.
The attack was claimed by the Free Syrian Army who claimed seven military pilots were killed in the ambush.