According to CCTV news reports, on October 5, local time, the Syrian Homs Military Academy was attacked by drones while holding an officer's graduation ceremony. On the evening of the 5th, the Syrian Minister of Health said that the attack on the Homs Military Academy had killed 80 people.
The wounded were taken to hospital
On October 6, the Syrian War Rights Watch and a Syrian official revealed that the death toll had exceeded 100, with 125 injured taken to hospital. It was one of the largest attacks on Syrian army installations and the first mass destruction mission carried out by drones since the 12-year civil war.
Founded in 1933, the Homs Military Academy has a long history and is known as the "West Point Military Academy of Syria" and has trained many presidents and marshals of the country. The current president, Bashar al-Assad, also began his military career at this school. Syria's Defense and Foreign Ministry said it would do "all the effort" to punish those behind the operation.
There were casualties among both military and civilians
No organization was yet responsible for the attack
A Syrian security ministry source said the Syrian defense minister attended the graduation ceremony and that a drone attack occurred within minutes of him leaving the academy, and the minister himself "escaped."
People poured into the courtyard after the graduation ceremony
A Syrian staff member who decorated the graduation ceremony venue said: "After the ceremony, people walked from the auditorium to the open courtyard and the explosion happened. We didn't know where the explosion came from, we saw bodies scattered on the ground."
Footage shared by those present via social media showed some men in military uniforms and others in civilian clothes lying in pools of blood in the courtyard, some still smoking and others still on fire. In the midst of the screams, someone can be heard shouting "Hurry up and put out the fire", and gunshots can be heard in the background of the video.
The video shows the chaos at the time
Syria's Defense Ministry said in a statement that both civilians and military personnel were killed in the attack at the Homs Military Academy. Syria's Defense Ministry said it was a "terrorist group using drones to carry out the attack," but did not specify which group it was, nor did any group immediately say responsibility for the attack.
Syria's defense and foreign ministries vowed in a written statement to respond to the attack "with all their might." According to reports, Syrian government forces have carried out a key bombing of the opposition-controlled area of Idlib on the 5th.
A historic elite military training school
Homs is about 162 kilometers from the Syrian capital, Damascus, not too far from the Lebanese border, and is an area controlled by the Syrian government. According to reports, the road into the military town of Homs is guarded by military personnel and needs to check documents.
The Holmes Military Academy was founded in 1933 by the French army during the colonization of Syria and Lebanon. During its French administration, the academy recruited natives from Syria and Lebanon for training, and after graduation, the non-commissioned officers formed the famous "French Levant Unit", which was one of the most effective elite units in all foreign armies in France.
In 1943, the French colonial occupation of the Levant ended, but the Homs Military Academy continued to survive and expand its professional fields. Initially, it was primarily an infantry officer academy, but later outstanding non-commissioned officers from other branches of the armed forces also came here for professional training. During Syria's friendship with the former Soviet Union, graduates of the academy were often selected to study at military academies in the former Soviet Union.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Today, Syria's oldest military academy is still a training base for the top ranks of the Syrian government, where current President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad, graduated, as well as former President Luya Atassi. In addition, many marshals of the Syrian army, military attachés in the United States, etc. also walked out of the Homs Military Academy.
The political and military basis of the Assad family
The Assad family, who has ruled Syria for decades, has a very close connection with the Homs Military Academy, and the current president, Bashar al-Assad (known as "Little Assad"), not only attended this academy himself, but also his father (known as "Old Assad") and brother here to complete their military preparations, it can be said that the Assad family is inseparable from the Homs Military Academy.
Assad, which means "lion" in the local language, belongs to a tribe that is a minority in Syria, but the Homs Military Academy has a tradition of reusing its personnel. Because the tribe is concentrated in the mountains, has a unique history and culture, and the people are fierce and brave, the "French Levant Force" has always relied on this ethnic group to form an army.
Born in 1930, the elder Assad studied at the Homs Military Academy for five years before transforming into a very brave and combative fighter.
In the Second Middle East War in 1956, the elder Assad personally flew a fighter jet to shoot down a bomber from a Western country; In 1963, he participated in the launch of the "March 8 Revolution", which brought about the Syrian Baath Party to seize state power; In 1971, the elder Assad won a series of struggles and was elected president of Syria.
Little Assad's life experience is more tortuous, he originally studied medicine in London, England, hoping to become an ophthalmologist. According to his mentors, Assad Jr. was "introverted and quiet" and did not like political topics. In 1994, Basile, the eldest son that the elder Assad had focused on cultivating, died in a car accident, and the younger Assad was urgently recalled to China to be trained as a successor.
In Syrian politics, having a military resume is one of the prerequisites for politics, and Assad, who had only a medical background at the time, was arranged to enter the Homs Military Academy for five years, which familiarized him with military affairs. After graduating, Assad Jr. quickly excelled in the barracks, rising to lieutenant colonel, general, and even commander-in-chief of the Syrian army. With this resume, he was later elected president of Syria with 97% of the vote.
Red Star News reporter Zheng Zhi
Edited by Guo Yu Editor: Deng Xuguang
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