in the provinces of Idlib and Homs in Syria. This was the first time the aircraft carrier had ever participated in combat operations. The Russian Defence Ministry later reported that at least 30 militants had been killed as a result of those strikes, including three field commanders, among them Abul Baha al-Asfari, leader of Al-Nusra reserve forces in the provinces of Homs and Aleppo. Al-Asfari had also planned and led several insurgent attacks on the city of Aleppo. The Su-33s reportedly used precision-guided munitions. On 3 December 2016, an Su-33 crashed into the sea after attempting to land on the carrier. The pilot was safely recovered by a search and rescue helicopter. Later it was revealed that the arresting gear mechanism had failed to hold the aircraft, and was damaged in the attempt. Following this second incident, the air wing was transferred to shore at Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia to continue military operations while the carrier's arresting gear issues were addressed. In early January 2017, it was announced that Admiral Kuznetsov and its battlegroup would be ceasing operations in Syria and returning to Russia as part of a scaling back of Russian involvement in the conflict. During its deployment off Syria, aircraft from Admiral Kuznetsov carried out 420 combat missions, hitting 1,252 hostile targets. On 11 January 2017, Admiral Kuznetsov was conducting live-fire training exercises in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. The Russian defence ministry announced that on 11 January, Admiral Kuznetsov was visited by Libya's military leader Khalifa Haftar, who had a video conference with Russian defence minister Sergey Shoygu while on board. On 20 January, Admiral Kuznetsov was sighted passing west through the Strait of Gibraltar and six days later, it was escorted back along the English Channel by three Eurofighter Typhoons of the Royal Air Force and the Type 23 frigate . It arrived back in Severomorsk on 9 February. On 23 February 2017, President Vladimir Putin said that the ship's deployment to the Mediterranean had been his personal initiative. 2017–present: overhaul Admiral Kuznetsov started an overhaul and modernization program in the first quarter of 2017 to extend its service life by 25 years. The ship was to undergo modernization at the 35th Ship Repair Plant in Murmansk between 2018 and 2021, upgrading the ship's power plant and electronics systems. On 30 October 2018, the ship was damaged when Russia's biggest floating drydock, ,