Syrian rebels have seized a signal reconnaissance center in the south of the country that had reportedly been shared by Russia and Syria, according to a blog post published Sunday by Russian defense think tank the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
The reconnaissance center was reportedly used by both the Russian and Syrian defense ministries, but the Russian side abandoned it at the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, the blog post said.
The facility was said to be of vital importance to forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, as it was responsible for detecting and deciphering radio communications between various rebel groups in the country.
On Sunday, members of the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army published a video to YouTube purporting to show the center's seizure. Screenshots of the inside of the facility were posted on the LiveJournal account of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
One photograph shows a picture captioned with the description: "Joint Processing of Information by Russian and Syrian officers" in both Arabic and Russian. The photographs posted to the blog also purport to show photos of visits by high-ranking Russian military officials.
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