Menagh Air Base Explained

Menagh Air Base
Icao:OS71
Type:Military
Owner:Syrian Armed Forces
Operator: Syrian Interim Government[1]
Location:Menagh, Aleppo Governorate
Used:Unknown–present
Pushpin Map:Syria
Pushpin Label:Menagh Air Base
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Syria
R1-Number:00/00
R1-Length-F:4,700 (est.)
R1-Length-M:1,430 (est.)
R1-Surface:Concrete
R2-Number:00/00
R2-Length-F:3,010 (est.)
R2-Length-M:915 (est.)
R2-Surface:Concrete (Damaged)

Menagh Air Base (or Minnigh airport, Minakh Air Base) (ar|قَاعِدَة مَطَار مِنِّغ|Qāʿidat Maṭār Minniḡ) is a Syrian Air Force installation located south of Azaz, Aleppo Governorate, Syria near the village of Manaq.

Menagh Air Base was home to the 4th Flying Training Squadron, equipped with MBB 223 Flamingo trainer aircraft and Mil Mi-8 helicopters.[2]

Syrian Civil War

The air base became a major target of the armed opposition in the Syrian Civil War's Battle of Aleppo.[3] The air base was under siege by opposition forces from August 2012 until it fell to the rebels and Islamists (including ISIL, the Northern Storm Brigade and Tawhid Brigades) on 6 August 2013.[4] [5] It subsequently fell under control of the Al Nusra Front.[6] On 10 February 2016, the Syrian Democratic Forces from nearby Afrin captured the airbase, aided by Russian airstrikes.[7] After the YPG captured the Menagh Air Base, the organization renamed it "Serok Apo Air Base", meaning "Leader Apo", in reference to Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK.[8]

On 1 December 2024, Syrian opposition armed groups announced that they had taken control of the air base.[9]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: More than 200,000 Syrians trapped in Operation “Dawn of Freedom”... Communications cut off in northern Aleppo countryside and fears of massacres against Kurdish citizens . 1 December 2024 . SOHR . 1 December 2024 . Arabic.
  2. Web site: Minakh. Global Security.org. 16 May 2014.
  3. Web site: If Syria's rebels can't take The Fortress, how can they take the capital?. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-syrias-rebels-cant-take-the-fortress-how-can-they-take-the-capital-8465325.html . 2022-05-12 . subscription . live. The Independent. 24 January 2013. 16 May 2014.
  4. Web site: Syrian rebels capture military airport near Turkey . Reuters . 5 August 2013 . 24 October 2017.
  5. Web site: Paraszczuk . Joanna . 2013-08-07 . Syria Analysis: Which Insurgents Captured Menagh Airbase - & Who Led Them? . 2024-12-02 . EA WorldView . en-US.
  6. Book: Cockburn, Patrick. War in the Age of Trump: The Defeat of ISIS, the Fall of the Kurds, the Conflict with Iran. 2020-07-07. Verso Books. 978-1-83976-042-6. 37. en.
  7. Web site: Syrian air base 'seized by Kurds and their allies'. The Telegraph. 11 February 2016. 19 February 2016.
  8. News: 18 February 2016 . YPG rename captured Syrian airbase after PKK leader Ocalan . 2 December 2024 . Rudaw Media Network.
  9. Web site: قوات عملية “فجر الحرية” تعلن السيطرة على مدينة تل رفعت ومطار “منغ” (فيديو) . 2024-12-01 . الجزيرة مباشر . ar.