Russia, Syria restore military airbase in Syria’s Manbij
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Russian and Syrian forces have restored al-Jarrah military airbase in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria, after being out of service for years, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Jan. 23.
“The joint basing of aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Air Force at the al-Jarrah airfield makes it possible to cover the state border,” the ministry said on Telegram.
Al-Jarrah airbase, which is located east of the village of al-Mahdoum, in the eastern countryside of Manbij, was recaptured by Syrian government forces from Islamic State (ISIS) in 2017.
The al- airbase fall under the control of several powers since the start of the Syrian war in 2011.
It links between the eastern with western parts of Aleppo and the government forces, from it, used to shell the Syrian opposition factions in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib before the latter took control of the airbase in 2013 following fierce clashes.
A year later, the Islamic State (ISIS), after expelling the opposition factions, came to ruling the airbase until 2017 when the government forces regained control over it.
The airbase then was a post for the government forces moving to and from areas north and northeast Syria.
This comes in tandem with talks about re-opening the M4 and M5 highways, as an implementation of Sochi agreement signed between Russia and Turkey in 2019.