Kuweires Military Aviation Institute ( ar, الكلية الجوية العسكرية في كويرس) is an

airbase An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

and

military aviation Military aviation comprises military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift ( air cargo) capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a war the ...

institute in

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is situated some 30 km east of the city of

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, to the northeast of

Kuweires Sharqi Kuweires Sharqi ( ar, كويرس شرقي, East Kuweires) is a town in eastern Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria, mostly known for the Kuweires Military Airbase Kuweires Military Aviation Institute ( ar, الكلية الجوية العسك ...

village, between

As-Safira As-Safira ( ar, السَّفِيْرَة / ALA-LC: ''as-Safīrah''; Aleppo dialect: ''Sfīre'') is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center for the as-Safira District. As Safīrah has an ...

in the West and

Dayr Hafir Dayr Hafir ( ar, دَيْر حَافِر / ALA-LC: ''Dayr Ḥāfir'') is a Syrian city in the Aleppo Governorate, east of Aleppo on the Aleppo-Raqqa highway, to the north of Sabkhat al-Jabbul. It is the regional centre of Dayr Hafir District. In ...

in the East. The base was constructed with Polish support in the late 1960s as the primary base of the Syrian air force academy. The base is home to the Military Aviation Institute (originally opened in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

in 1947) of the

Syrian Arab Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War * ...

since 1980. The Military Aviation Institute was renovated between 2017–2021 and reopened in 2021.

Siege during the Syrian civil war

Kuweires Airbase was defended mostly by cadets when it fell under siege by rebels in 2013. Rebel forces surrounded Kuweiris for more than a year but did not overrun it. As rebel infighting with ISIS intensified, ISIS took control of the siege around late 2013. ISIS besieged the airbase for two years, deploying heavy weapons and armoured vehicles like suicide tank

VBIED A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

s. ISIS negotiators called up officers on the phone and urged them to surrender and shelled the base with leaflets promising safe passage, but no one defected. Twice ISIS breached the perimeter of the airbase, even reaching as far as the

hardened aircraft shelter A hardened aircraft shelter (HAS) or protective aircraft shelter (PAS) is a reinforced hangar to house and protect military aircraft from enemy attack. Cost considerations and building practicalities limit their use to fighter size aircraft. ...

s where the defenders lived, but could not capture it. Colonel Suheil al-Hassan and his

Tiger Forces The 25th Special Mission Forces Division, mostly known by their former name Tiger Forces or Quwwat al-Nimr ( ar, قُوَّات النِّمْر), is an elite formation (special forces unit) of the Syrian Arab Army which functions primarily as ...

finally broke the siege on November 10, 2015, as part of the Kuweires offensive. Only 300 of 1,100 soldiers survived the siege. The Syrian government repaired the base immediately after lifting the siege, deploying a squadron of

Aero L-39 Albatros The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced in Czechoslovakia by Aero Vodochody. It is the most widely used jet trainer in the world; in addition to performing basic and advanced pilot training, it has also fl ...

fighter-bombers together with a Buk M1 surface-to-air missile system, operated by a combined Russian and Syrian crew, to defend the base.

References

External links

Wikimapia
{{authority control Military installations of Syria Sieges of the Syrian civil war Syrian Air Force bases Dayr Hafir District Universities in Syria

Siege during the Syrian civil war

See also

References

External links