A combined team of Syrian sappers and Russian military engineers is conducting mine clearance, as well as searching and destroying caves in the South-East of Hama province in Syria, where members of illegal armed groups organized field headquarters, hospitals and strongholds. They found one of these caves recently near an abandoned settlement and destroyed it by blowing it up.
"This cave was like a cache for them, like a bomb shelter, at the same time it served as some kind of shelters. In the daytime, they took shelter here, at night-made sorties and reconnaissance," told reporters the commander of the Russian engineering and sapper platoon Andrey Zakharkov, demonstrating the discovered cave.
In the province of Hama, terrorists have settled since the beginning of the war in Syria. For shelter, they used caves that were manually dug in the soft rock near settlements. The shelter is a system of underground tunnels that cannot be detected without special means.
Inside one of them-the one that was found by the Russian military, there are still traces of the presence of militants: clothes, bandages, and packages of medicines are on the ground. The purpose of terrorists who use such shelters is to attack the local population, capture prisoners, and robberies. "To prevent this from happening again, the caves that are located are destroyed by blasting," said Zakharkov.
After his words, the sappers put bombs in the tunnels, and then everyone retreats to a safe distance. A command sounds on the radio and then an explosion occurs. After that, only rubble remains in place, which is no longer usable. "Here the ground is more like a rocky, stony. Yes, of course, there are some difficulties in the work. First, you have to work at depth. On top of this is a large layer of ground, not even ground, but these stones. And, as you can see, after the explosion, there are large boulders, " the platoon commander comments after the explosion of the cave.
De-mining of the area
Another important stage of the work of Russian military sappers together with their Syrian colleagues is the clearance of territory. During the war, there was fighting in the South-East of Hama and many unexploded ordnance were left behind. In addition, leaving these territories, the militants could have mined buildings in order to prevent local residents from returning to their homes, and the sappers will have to carefully check the entire area.
This task is carried out by four people: two Syrian army soldiers and two Russian military personnel. All of them are dressed in special protective kits for mine clearance, as well as "armed" with modern mine detectors.
The area in this area of Hama is literally filled with dangerous objects and at the first search near residential buildings, a Syrian sapper throws his hand up, which is a signal for his colleagues-an explosive object has been detected. A shell from a mortar is found in an open area and it is decided not to take it out, but to destroy it on the spot. To do this, they lay TNT sticks next to it and make them explode from a safe distance.
Result of work
A combined detachment of Russian military engineers and Syrian sappers has been working in Hama since mid-July. According to the representative office of the Center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria in the territory of Hama province, the combined unit has already scouted more than 120 km of roads. The military found and destroyed 11 land mines, defused 29 minefields laid by the militants, and also checked 15 settlements and camps of the nomadic population that live in Hama.
Also, the sappers destroyed 13 improvised explosive devices and blew up more than 30 caves that the terrorists used as shelters.
Thanks to this, local residents who were previously forced to leave because of the militants, have already started returning to the localities. "Civilians began to return to settlements in the areas returned to the control of government forces. So, 20 families have already returned to the localities of Mubattan Tahmaz and Hasu," the representative office of the Center in Hama noted.
In total, according to the Center, more than 3 thousand hectares of territories, more than 3.1 thousand buildings, as well as 270 kilometers of roads have been cleared throughout Syria. During the work of the sappers in the country, more than 37.6 thousand explosive items were found and destroyed, 5.4 thousand of which were improvised explosive devices.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS