The actions of the Russian SOF in Syria. Syria: special operations forces morf. work of the SSO of Russia in Syria (video). Equipment of the soldiers of the MTR

The wind drives smoldering rags and dried leaves of branches cut into fragments along the deserted streets of Palmyra. Deserted houses sadly slam the shutters of windows that have long lost all glass. Rare Syrian soldiers, seeing us, show ISIS (ISIS - an organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) prayer house, followed by a field hospital in the basement. On some houses, inscriptions in Russian “Min no” are still preserved. After the last release. Now the sappers have not finished their work yet. A black flag of terrorists is flying on the roof of the Heliopolis Hotel - the building of the former headquarters has not yet been cleared of mines. Over the past three years, the town has twice been invaded by medieval barbarians. And every time they were driven out of the city mainly thanks to the help of the Russian military. In addition to the VKS bombers, which crushed strongholds and fortified areas of militants from the air, units of the Special Operations Forces worked on the ground.

Special Operations Forces - the elite of the Russian armed forces Photo: Alexander KOTS

Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Alexander Kots spent the day with a unit of the Special Operations Forces near Palmyra.

The MTR is the elite of the Russian Armed Forces. Special Forces, each fighter of which is an extra-class piece specialist. These are snipers who destroyed the leaders of terrorists from among immigrants from Russia. Thanks to them, the Russian pilots without a miss hit the positions of the ISIS on the heights going to Palmyra, bringing the liberation of the ancient city closer. Their names must not be given, their faces must not be shown, in many ways their work is classified as "Top Secret". Together with a column of Special Operations Forces, I advance to the front lines near Palmyra, from which the militants were thrown back, but they leave very reluctantly. In combat order, armored vehicles drive only along proven bypass roads in order to minimize risks - militants can lay land mines at night.

MTR fighters differ from other representatives of the RF Armed Forces even externally. Although, if you meet such a “citizen”, you can hardly distinguish it from an ordinary passer-by. Here - the most modern equipment, weapons and technical means. The fighters look, what can I say, impressive. Like in the movies. Only in a real war the price of a mistake is disproportionately higher. Do not shoot the second take. Special forces from the hatches of the "Tigers" tenaciously peer along the flanks, leading the barrel of an AGS heavy grenade launcher. The road to the detour takes an hour and a half more, but we get to the MTR observation post without incident.

MTR fighter in position Photo: Alexander KOTS

From here to the village where the militants settled, about two kilometers. To the "green" under the height occupied by terrorists - five. Several Russian special forces, lying on a hillock, drill enemy territory with binoculars. A few minutes later, several powerful gaps grow like mushrooms on the horizon. The Russian Aerospace Forces, thanks to the coordinates from the MTR specialists, suppressed the resistance of the militants in the "zelenka".

Nearby is a large concrete hangar. Inside are three burnt ISIS tanks. Above - a huge hole in the concrete as an example of the filigree work of Russian pilots. But the coordinates of this hangar were transmitted just from the ground.

Special Operations Forces ensure the advancement of the Syrian army forward. A new image of the Russian special forces - perfectly trained, well-armed and equipped, performing tasks of any complexity anywhere in the world. Although the main work, of course, the Syrians will have to do themselves. No one will storm the heights occupied by ISIS for them. But thanks to the interaction of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the MTR, this will be an order of magnitude easier.

“This time, during the capture of Palmyra, everything went faster,” the Syrian fighters admit. - Almost all of us participated in the first assault and learned how to interact with the Russians. I had to sweat with the capture of the Citadel - five machine gunners were sitting there, and it is impossible to bomb architectural monuments. But in the end we made it. We will not give up Tadmor (the Arabic name for Palmyra) anymore.

Thanks to the coordinates transmitted by the MTR fighters, Russian aircraft delivered an accurate strike on the hangar, in which three ISIS tanks were hidden Photo: Alexander KOTS

Over our heads, drowning out the rumble of artillery, four Syrian and one Russian planes passed and headed towards the old city. There, in the amphitheater, the music sounded again. On the occasion of the arrival in Palmyra of the commander of the Russian group Andrei Kartapolov, the Syrians organized a small concert of student ensembles that performed patriotic songs in gratitude for Russian help.

EQUIPMENT OF MTR FIGHTERS

On September 19, 2017, after a powerful fire training, units of the "" * group launched an offensive against the positions of the Syrian troops in the area of ​​the de-escalation zone in Idlib. Under the onslaught of militants using tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, government troops were forced to retreat 12 km, and in some sectors of the front up to 20 km. As a result, a Russian military police platoon was surrounded by terrorists and fought off attacks by superior enemy forces for several hours.

To help our military, the Russian command in Syria sent a release group headed by Major General Viktor Shulyak, Deputy Head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties. The group included units of the Special Operations Forces, the Russian military police, as well as Syrian special forces.

Air support was provided by two Su-25 attack aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Mi-24 helicopters. During the operation, the encirclement was broken, units of the Russian Armed Forces reached the area where government troops were located without loss. Three Russian servicemen were wounded in the battle with the terrorists.

Falcons Shoigu

The Special Operations Forces is a fundamentally new structural unit of the Russian Armed Forces, which arose as a result of a large-scale military reform carried out in recent years in the Russian army. In 2009, the Directorate of Special Operations Forces was created in the Russian Armed Forces, which was transformed in 2012 into the Command of Special Operations Forces. Measures to create a new unit began to be carried out more intensively after Sergei Shoigu headed the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2012.

• Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
• RIA News

“This is the unconditional merit of Shoigu. He created units that can perform combat missions in a variety of countries where Russian interests require it, ”said RT the head of the Center for the Study of Public Applied Problems of National Security, retired colonel Alexander Zhilin.

In 2013, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army V.V. Gerasimov, referring to the need to take into account world experience, announced the creation of Special Operations Forces in Russia.

“Special operations troops were created not so long ago. This is a centralized structure that carries out operations in the interests of the state, primarily abroad, ”Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for Political Conjuncture, explained to RT the appointment of the MTR.

According to the expert, the SSO are in many ways the heirs of the special forces units that previously existed in the army. “Many of the methods and means that were used by our special forces earlier have not gone away,” the political scientist notes.

The main difference from what was before is a single management structure.

“Now there is a centralized structure that manages all such operations. This was not the case before. Previously, special forces acted in the interests of various types, branches of the armed forces. Now this is a branch of the armed forces in itself, ”the expert emphasized.

new reality

In the United States, the Pentagon's Office of Special Operations appeared in 1980. The British Special Forces Administration was formed in 1987. The French Special Operations Command was established in 1992.

All these units, as well as the command of the Russian Special Operations Forces, were created for one purpose - to coordinate the actions of special units in fundamentally new war conditions.

“This is due to the methods of warfare that now exist in the world. War is not always waged by direct means, ”Konovalov notes.

According to him, the Russian Special Operations Forces are a response to the West's use of a hybrid war strategy, when both regular armed forces and irregular military formations participate in hostilities. Operations are for the most part the nature of covert sabotage and guerrilla attacks.

“We did not invent this term - “hybrid war”, it was invented by the Americans, who invented the hybrid war, but we cannot stand aside. To wage such a war, the Special Operations Forces are needed, ”Konovalov emphasizes.

According to Zhilin, special forces are elite units.

“At one time, the best fighters were delegated there, who underwent intensive training: this is tactics, this is work in different territories - mountainous terrain, desert. This is the pride of the country militarily, ”the expert noted.

The MTR is armed with the most modern Russian weapons and military equipment. Efficiency is of key importance in their actions.

“They are always in touch with the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff, which coordinates. And if earlier, since Soviet times, our commands took a very long time, now the operational control of the battle in Syria can be carried out in real time from Moscow, ”the expert emphasized.

In 2015, a new holiday appeared - Special Operations Forces Day. It is celebrated on February 27th.

Syrian experience

MTRs have been operating in Syria since 2015. Their main tasks are to carry out reconnaissance functions, adjust Russian air strikes against terrorists, as well as perform various combat missions in the advanced formations of the advancing Syrian army.

In March 2016, Russia learned about the death of senior lieutenant of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces Alexander Prokhorenko near Palmyra. Being in the rear of the IG * militants, he served as an advanced aircraft controller. When the Russian officer was discovered and surrounded by militants, he called fire on himself. Alexander Prokhorenko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

• A participant in the procession "Immortal Regiment" carries a poster with a photograph of Hero of Russia Alexander Prokhorenko, who died in Syria
• RIA News

The SOF participated in the re-liberation of Palmyra in 2017 and the liberation of Aleppo in 2016. In May 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally awarded a group of special forces who held the front in Aleppo for two days. 16 officers of the Special Operations Forces opposed 300 militants. In the battle, they destroyed a terrorist tank, two infantry fighting vehicles and a car with a suicide bomber. The group commander was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, the rest of the officers were awarded state awards.

“Their goals are diverse, but the main function of our MTRs is to act in the advanced formations of the Syrian army and correct their actions,” Konovalov explained.

According to experts, it is the leading and guiding role of the Russian Special Operations Forces that is the secret of the successful military operations of the Syrian government army.

“The most important thing that we brought to Syria and after which a radical change began is fighting spirit,” says Zhilin. “Having seen how our guys are fighting, the Syrians realized that it is possible and necessary to smash the enemy.”

According to Konovalov, the actions of the Russian Special Operations Forces in Syria demonstrate that they are head and shoulders above similar units in other countries, primarily in the United States.

• Operation to release the Russian military in Syria

* "Islamic State" (ISIS, ISIS), "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" - terrorist groups banned in Russia.

Soldier of the Russian special forces - on a business trip to Syria and interaction with the Syrian military

How do you rate ISIS fighters? How have their units changed lately? Have new weapons, tactics, modern weapons appeared?

We had several business trips, and each time the militants changed. So it was not that we arrived and the enemy remained the same. The situation does not stand still. For example, militants now have a lot of night vision devices. These are binocular devices, and "Cyclops" (a night vision device with two eyepieces combined into one unit. - "Izvestia"). There are also "pipes" - night vision sights. They are mounted on small arms. The militants also have “teplyaks” (thermal imagers. - Izvestia). Before, all this goodness did not exist. For example, we even captured Belarusian Pulsar night vision devices from the enemy. Quite good and relatively inexpensive products with a Chinese matrix. They also had "Pulsars" with rangefinder units.

- And how effectively do militants use night vision devices and thermal imagers?

So far, the militants are not quite able to use this technique. For example, when they work with night vision scopes, they do not take into account the ballistics of the weapon. A bullet is not a laser beam. She flies on a certain trajectory. To hit, especially at a great distance, you need to make corrections when shooting, make takeaways and take lead. They don't. Therefore, they often fail.

The sentries at the posts do not use "night lights" all the time. They will look for a while and remove the appliances. And then just listen to what is happening around. Therefore, they often cannot detect in time what is happening near the position.

But all the same, in combat work, one has to constantly take into account that the enemy has “warmthings” and “night lights”. Especially when you approach the positions of militants at night. We must behave very carefully, control our movements and carefully monitor the sentries.

- It is known that ISIS units often use various drones. Have you come across such products?

Mostly they make them with their own hands. They buy engines, control systems and other parts on the Internet. They also use quadcopters. Drones and quadrocopters work very efficiently.

For example, we saw such an option. "Fantik" (a quadrocopter of the Phantom series. - "Izvestia") with a fixed hook. An improvised explosive device (IED) is suspended from a hook. The IED has a remote detonation unit and legs. The camouflage device is pasted over with grass. "Fantik" brings it secretly and puts it in the grass next to the road or in a trench. And the militants are watching and, when someone approaches or a car passes, they detonate the charge remotely. Its power is enough to break the wheel of a truck.

We met quadcopters with pipe bombs. Small tubes, drummers made from nails, stabilizers made from cut packets. Shot in charge. The quadcopter is almost inaudible. He flies up and drops the bomb. In a radius of 5 m, you can get serious shrapnel wounds. At the same time, the militants understand the importance of drones. And they are trying to shoot down our and Syrian. At one of our units, they shot down a quadrocopter. Apparently, they got him from the SVD.

- Can you tell us about your combat work?

We tried to hit the enemy in the weakest places, where he did not expect us, and inflict maximum defeat. Once we went well from the line of contact to the rear of the militants. And at night they raided their positions.

The terrain in the area where we worked is a "Martian" landscape. There are cracks in the ground and stones everywhere, which are collected in heaps and shafts. Moreover, each shaft is 2–3 m high and 500 m to 1 km long. Due to the twists and turns, it is difficult to navigate the terrain at night. At the same time, it is not easy to find an enemy. Heated stones are very similar to the head or other parts of the human body.

In the depths of the enemy defense there was a building. At one time, the militants blew it up, and it settled down. But if you climb onto its roof, or rather, what is left of it, then a good view of the enemy’s position opens up. But in order to approach the building, it was necessary to cross the road. And it is located on a one and a half meter embankment, and when you overcome it, you become very noticeable. And a little further, at the crossroads, the militants have a dugout with a heavy machine gun. Of course, I had to sweat. We began to follow the enemy. They were waiting for the militants to lose their vigilance. Then they quickly overcame this milestone. They took positions, prepared and began to work.

The militants obviously did not expect that someone would be able to attack them so boldly at night and exterminate them so intensively. We then "worked out" several dozen people. At first, the enemy was in shock. They did not understand what was happening and where they were being shot from. But then their reserves pulled up. The enemy regrouped, and they began to shoot at the "house" from all trunks, leveling our shelter with the ground. Apparently, the enemy realized that it is most convenient to work from "home". Plus, we noticed they have surveillance devices. The militants even tried to make a small detour and began to “pour” on us from the flank with a machine gun. They were also quite rude. Several militants went ahead. Hiding behind rocks. They managed to overcome about 100 m. True, we put them all down. We started to move away from home. But the machine gun from the flank did not allow them to cross the road. And you can't wait there. Covered with mortar fire. I had to back off along the road. When the enemy changed magazines in machine guns and reloaded machine guns, we overcame the ill-fated road with a sharp throw. After that, a relatively safe withdrawal was already provided to us.

A few days later, we decided to plan an operation in another area along the same lines. First, we studied the area, carefully worked out all the issues of the operation, and took into account previous experience.

But this time they decided to take more powerful weapons - hand grenade launchers. We also had machine guns, sniper rifles and machine guns.

The location was relatively close. But we walked very carefully. Therefore, the approach took us several hours. There were abandoned positions along the way. And there were still awnings, mattresses lay. I had to stop and look at them. There might be mines. There was a lot of garbage in the grass, tin cans and cartridge zinc. Even if you just hook it, there will be a lot of noise.

We arrived at the site quite late. Dawn was about to begin. So we had to act quickly and boldly. They decomposed, observed the positions of the militants, assessed their number, weapons, and the nature of their actions. Well, they started working.

The subject of our interest was one building and approaches to it. As we understood, this is a kind of guardroom. There, the militants rested, ate food and prepared to go to intercede at the post. This is just what we needed. A large gathering of an enemy who thinks they are safe and does not expect to be attacked. They fixed the moment when a large number of militants accumulated, apparently for briefing.

Then everything developed rapidly. Worked out from grenade launchers. The building takes off into the air, the militants panic. Our arrows with accurate shots finish off those who were thrown back by the explosion and began to recover. Then, according to radio interception, we were told that we had covered four important commanders and several dozen militants.

True, shots from grenade launchers immediately unmasked our positions and the militants again climbed out of all the cracks, like last time. The enemy had hidden communication routes along which their machine gunners advanced towards us. They turned around and opened fairly accurate fire. The bullets landed so close that you could feel their tracks with your body. The splashes were very close.

They began to retreat in an organized manner, covering each other under enemy fire. The first covers, and the second moves, takes a position, then the first one pulls up to him, etc. The militants behaved again very boldly. Plus, they were well oriented on the ground. We have already decently moved away from the battlefield. Suddenly, a militant jumps out from the flank and starts shooting. I managed to release almost the entire store in our direction. And just at that time I ran across. But the partner did a good job. All I heard was the sound of "boom-boom" shots. A clear "two" right in the center of the "carcass".

If we had delayed a little, then the impudent militant would have come out to our rear. The operation was very successful. We made a lot of noise there.

- And how did you interact with the Syrian military?

It is necessary to establish interaction with them and in every possible way involve them in the performance of tasks. If we go on a task, then we gather Syrian commanders from all fronts. Often, only at such meetings they get to know each other. We help them get along with each other. We explain where, how and from where we will work, we take their personnel with us. Be sure to instruct them to let us return from the battle and not hit us with their fire. We try to leave our representative for coordination. Syrian soldiers are different. There are combat. And sometimes, under fire, you tell him “run”, but he cannot move from his place - his legs have become cotton. And sometimes they start crying. On the one hand, they can be understood. We are here on a business trip. Reclaimed - and home. And they have been fighting here continuously for six years.

What allowed Russia to achieve impressive military successes in Syria? Limit the number of troops and reduce combat losses during a counter-terrorist operation? The answer lies on the surface. Pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces worked out from the air, and MTR fighters worked on the ground. How the MTR fighters operate "on the ground" can be seen in the video footage of the assault on Palmyra in Syria. No wonder they are called the elite of the armed forces.

It was these guys who destroyed the most odious field commanders of militants and a group of suicide bombers preparing to attack checkpoints of the SAR army, as well as terrorists' "carts" - pickup trucks with heavy machine guns or rocket launchers. Thanks to the MTR fighters, according to foreign media, government troops have been successful in Aleppo.

The equipment and armament of the MTR fighters allows them to complete the task in any region of the world, ensuring the security of Russia and its allies. In their arsenal - camouflaged modern Russian rifle with optical and collimator sights, silent shooting devices and high-precision sniper systems of foreign production.

When performing combat missions, SOF fighters use special techniques relating to subversive, counter-terrorist, counter-sabotage, reconnaissance and sabotage and other actions. The widespread use of special forces, including for guiding aircraft, has significantly increased the effectiveness of Russia's Syrian special operation. At the same time, the MTR of France, the USA, Great Britain and other countries of the Western coalition against ISIS in Syria and Iraq are inferior in terms of capabilities and professional training of the MTR to Russia.

The other day, footage of the work of the MTR fighters during the capture of Palmyra got into the network. The Russian special forces worked in multitasking order: reconnaissance and identification of the most important targets, disruption of ISIS offensive operations and counterattacks, coordination and cover for the advancing orders of government troops and the FSA. The commandos destroy the infantry, armored vehicles and carts of militants, direct attack aircraft at terrorist targets.

The fact of the work of the Special Operations Forces in Syria was no longer hidden last spring. And in this video you can see how smoothly and accurately the MTR fighters work, destroying the positions of terrorists. They did not leave the terrorists a chance to escape. The elite of the Russian troops, where each fighter is a unique specialist, of which there are only a few in the world. Without the support of the officers of the Special Operations Forces, the SAR army and their allies simply would not have been able to achieve success in the battles against terrorists.