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Syria said Tuesday that its  have intercepted a drone in the country's west, close to a key , regime media reported.

"The Syrian army air defenses intercepted on Monday evening hostile targets over Jabalah city," SANA news agency reported.

"SANA reporter said that the army air defenses in Lattakia province confronted drones in the airspace of Jabalh city."

The downing of the drone took place before an attempted attack on the in Latakia, pro-regime media reported.

Rebel groups launched large-scale drone attacks on the base in 2018 and have made more  attempts to bomb Hmeimim.

— Nick Grinstead (@nick_grins) " style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post air defenses intercept drones flying near Jableh along the coast, not too far from 's Hmeimim airbase. I know they're different systems, but funny how Syrian anti-air can take these little drones down but can't scratch an Israeli jet to save their skin — Nick Grinstead (@nick_grins)

Russia said in September 2019 that it had downed nearly 60 drones over the past year.

Russia  on the side of Bashar Al-Assad, in 2015, carrying out thousands of airstrikes on opposition areas.

The intervention helped the Assad regime turn the tide of the war, but the bombing of hospitals, markets and other civilian areas has killed ten thousands of civilians.

The Syria war broke out in 2011 when regime forces brutally suppressed peaceful anti-government protests, sparking an armed uprising.

At least 500,000 people have been killed in the war, the vast majority civilians killed by regime bombing and shelling.

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