ANNA News - Battle Tanks in Action in Al-Kabune - 2

ANNA News - Battle Tanks in Action in Al-Kabune - 2


Now, we
were walking to another spot from where SAA battle tanks were going to
attack the militant defense positions in Al-Kabune. A gunshot from the
militant side made us move in column, one by one, along the roadside
dirt hill. It must be admitted that the Syrian army servicemen can do
their job with a delicate precision. Personally, throughout my entire
period of work in Syria, never would I see civilians suffer from the
combat actions of the SAA troops, even though front line could run mere
hundreds meters away from peaceful dwellers.

A militant sniper
had spotted us and tried to nib us while we were walking towards our
designated observation points. But we have still managed to cover that
distance without any major problems. I have grown used to a lot of
things down here. But I still found myself amazed every time. As we were
treading in single file formation along the highway, civilian transport
was moving back and forth there as usual. The civilians were looking at
us with great interest, whereas we could have been killed by a sniper
bullet at any instant. What saved them from a sniper bullet was the
civilian travelers’ advantage of the high speed of their transport at
that particular road passage . Ours was that we had the skills to keep
our heads down and never give up. That the SAA officers ran around
dodging sniper bullets was exactly for the civilians’ safety’s sake.

ANNA
News Camera Man: “We had to cover this one hundred meter distance in
single file formation for we were being targeted by a sniper. So, we had
to take cover.”

Soon after that, the tank men instruction session and target designation briefing began.

SAA
Officer: “That building over there with a solar panel heater on it,
there are groups of militants on the ground floor of it and in the
basement. That is the house. The one with the solar battery panel on it.
Strike right at the bottom of it, as low as you can.”

SAA
Officer: “The first target is on the right hand-side. Two shots are to
be made on it. The house where there is a solar panel on it. Strike the
ground floor and the basement. One armor piercing high explosive round
and one high-explosive fragmentation one. Look, we have to destroy
defense positions on the ground floor and those underground. It all
should be done quickly.”

It was rather dangerous to be here,
since that fence [we were hiding behind] could be easily shot through by
a 7.62 mm bullet. A militant would need just a glimpse to spot us here
and all it would have taken him was a single shot to get us. All those
buildings over there were controlled by the militants. The building that
was the first the battle tanks were supposed to engage most probably
had a basement entrance into an underground tunnel.

The battle tanks were going into action.

SAA Officer: “Now, return to the lower road and keep moving straight ahead!”

SAA
infantrymen were controlling the area all around the battle tank
covering the vehicle against enemy grenade launchers. But the infantry
troops were positioned lower on the ground and they had very restricted
view range. It all depended on the tank men ability to spot the enemy
first, if there was any to pop out.

SAA Officer: “Fire!
Excellent! Repeat it! Armor piercing round! That’s it! Pull back! Use
the smoke screen! Pull back. Turn turret to the left! Wait! Don’t
shoot!”

Having delivered their strikes on the first target, the tank men were waiting for the message on the second one.

SAA Officer: “Cover them!”

In
strict coordination with the movements of the infantry, the tank men
were assigned a mission to destroy the militant positions on the left
flank.

SAA Officer: “If the target is clear hit the ground floor. Fire!”

Having fulfilled our mission here, we moved on.




Andrey Filatov, Victor Kuznetsov, Marat Musin. ANNA-News. Damascus, Syria