MOSCOW: Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday it is known which “provocateur” was behind a drone attack which targeted Russian military bases in Syria earlier this month.
Putin added that he spoke to Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey had nothing to do with the attack, which the defense ministry has said took place overnight on Jan. 6.
Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday displayed a pair of drones that it said were captured following attacks on two Russian military bases in Syria, saying the attack required know-how indicating it was carried out with outside assistance.
The ministry said Saturday’s raid on the Hemeimeem air base in the province of Lattakia and Russia’s naval facility in the port of Tartus involved 13 drones. It said seven were downed by air defense systems and the remaining six were forced to land by Russian electronic warfare units.
Of the latter, three exploded when they hit the ground and three more were captured intact, the ministry said.
The defense ministry presented two primitive-looking drones at a briefing, arguing that they featured state-of-the art electronics that are less prone to jamming and allow precision strikes.
Maj. Gen. Alexander Novikov, who heads the ministry’s drone department, said the drones used in the weekend’s raid on the Russian bases differed from the rudimentary craft earlier used by rebels in Syria. The attack required satellite navigation data that aren’t available on the Internet, complex engineering works and elaborate tests, Novikov said.
“The creation of drones of such class is impossible in makeshift conditions,” Novikov said. “Their development and use requires the involvement of experts with special training in the countries that manufacture and use drones.”
Novikov didn’t blame any specific country, but the Defense Ministry earlier referred to the “strange coincidence” of a US military intelligence plane allegedly barraging over the Mediterranean near the Russian bases when the attack took place.
The Pentagon strongly denied any involvement.
The defense ministry said the drones were launched from Al-Mouazzara in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, over 50 kilometers (more than 30 miles) away from the Russian bases.
The attack heightened tensions between Russia and Turkey, which wields significant influence with some rebel groups in Idlib. The province has become the main rallying point for various rebel factions after Syrian government forces won control over large swathes of territory thanks to Russian support.
Moscow has staunchly backed Syrian president Bashar Assad and Ankara has supported his foes, but they struck a deal last year to set up de-escalation zones. The agreement has helped reduce fighting and warm ties between Russia and Turkey. It also involved Iran, another Assad backer,
Following the drone attack, the Russian defense ministry sent letters to Turkey’s military leaders, asking them to deploy military observers to help prevent further attacks from Idlib on Russian assets.
The drone raid on Russian bases came just weeks after Russian president Vladimir Putin declared a victory in Syria and ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from the country.
The attack occurred a few days after mortar and rocket shelling of the Hemeimeem air base. The incursions have raised doubts about the sustainability of the Assad government’s recent victories and Moscow’s ability to protect its gains in Syria.
Putin says he knows who was behind attack on Russia’s Syria bases
Putin says he knows who was behind attack on Russia’s Syria bases
Philippine VP Sara Duterte faces new impeachment bids as 1-year reprieve ends
- House voted to remove Duterte last year but process was stopped by Supreme Court
- Daughter of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte is seen as the frontrunner for 2028 vote
MANILA: Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was hit with new impeachment complaints on Monday, in a relaunch of a political fight she survived last year.
The two complaints were filed to the House of Representatives accusing Duterte of misusing government funds — an accusation she already denied in 2025, when the House voted to remove her from office, but was prevented by a Supreme Court verdict, which stopped it citing constitutional safeguards.
The verdict gave Duterte temporary immunity against the same or similar complaint for one year, which lapsed in mid-January.
The first refiled complaint was endorsed by the three-member Makabayan bloc — a coalition of parties representing labor, peasant, youth, and human rights advocacy groups in the House — while the second was by Tindig Pilipinas, a coalition of pro‑democracy and civil society groups.
Both accused Duterte of betrayal of public trust over her alleged misuse of public funds and corruption, and one revived allegations that she threatened to assassinate her former ally President Ferdinand Marcos.
Representative Leila De Lima from the Mamamayang Liberal Party-list, who endorsed the Makabayan complaint, said in a statement that while last year’s impeachment move was stopped by the Supreme Court “based on a technicality,” now there are “sufficient grounds and impeachable offenses that could be proven during the hearings of the Committee on Justice.”
Duterte is the first sitting vice president to face impeachment in the country’s history. She has been embroiled in a row with Marcos, following the collapse of a powerful alliance between their families that brought them a landslide victory in the 2022 election.
Last year, she faced several impeachment complaints by a number of legislators and activist groups over a range of issues, including an alleged death threat that she publicly made against Marcos, his wife and the House speaker in 2024, and allegedly misusing millions of dollars in public funds.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, widely seen as a frontrunner for the 2028 presidential election, has consistently denied wrongdoing, describing the moves against her as a political vendetta.
While last year’s attempts to remove Duterte from office were stopped, this time efforts are wider, according to Ben Cy, a lawyer with experience in political and criminal cases, as another complaint filed last month to the Office of the Ombudsman by former senator Antonio Trillanes — a vocal critic of the Duterte political family — who accused the vice president of plunder, malversation and graft.
“It will go to the impeachment court. There will be a trial based on the information released by Trillanes,” Cy told Arab News. “These I think are the strong cases.”
