"Twice today, in the morning and in the evening, the Hmeymim air base was shelled from multiple launch rocket systems. Both times, fire was delivered from the eastern direction from the area of Zawiya settlement located in the Idlib de-escalation zone and controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (Nusra Front, banned in Russia). In total, 36 rockets were fired. The militants delivered fire using a drone," Kupchishin said.
READ MORE: Nusra-Linked Terrorist Group Planned to Attack Russian Hmeymim Air Base — MoD
He said the attack had been repelled by the air defense forces on duty, adding there were no deaths or destruction at the air base, and that all the points from where militants had been firing their rockets were detected and suppressed by Russian Aerospace Forces and artillery fire of the Syrian government troops.
The incident comes less than a week after the reconciliation centre said that terrorists tried to shell the base. According to the statement, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group, linked to the Al-Nusra Front*, tried to attack the base twelve times over the past month.
The terrorists used multiple-launch rocket systems and drones though all their attacks were repelled.
*Al-Nusra Front [the Nusra Front, Nusra Front] — a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and a number of other countries
