This past weekend, the Russian Air Force was given full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase inside the Latakia Governorate’s western countryside after the Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command approved the Russian Navy’s recent delivery of Sukhoi fighter jets through the Syrian port-city of Tartous. The Hmaymat Military Airbase is located inside the Bassel Al-Assad International Airport, which sits just east of the densely populated coastal city of Jableh in western Latakia. With full access to the Hmaymat Military Airbase’s airfields, the Russian Air Force possesses a temporary airbase to begin their aerial operations above the Islamic State of Iraq...