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Conflict in Syria

Shayrat airbase: One of the major strongholds of Assad's Air Force

The Syrian government forces have never lost control of the airbase since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011

© EPA/US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The US military launched 59 Tomahawk missiles from two US Navy destroyers on Thursday on the Shairat airbase in Syria’s Homs province.

Here's video from the #Tomahawk launches against #Syria. For more on the story, visit https://t.co/2GprTQGGjs. pic.twitter.com/kB3gbBy4ma
— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) 7 April 2017

The airfield located some 120 kilometers away from Syria’s capital Damascus is one of the major bases of the Syrian Air Force.

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Russian military brass says only 40% of US missiles hit targeted Syrian base

The airfield has a three-kilometer runway and 40 hardened shelters.

The Syrian government forces have never lost control of the airbase since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.

According to media reports, the Russian aerospace forces occasionally used Shayrat as a stopover base since 2015.

In late November 2015, a number of western media reported that Russia is planning to deploy its new Russian airbase at Shayrat. However, Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashrnkov dismissed these reports.

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