AAR- How the U.S. and Allies Attacked Syria

Bloomberg

President Trump’s outrage over another WMD attack by Syria’s President al-Assad was clear. For the second time in his presidency, the U.S. commander-in-chief commanded a reprisal.

While images of sick and dying civilians inundated global media all week, USS Winston Churchill sped toward the Mediterranean to join a flotilla of allied warships, including another U.S. warship, USS Donald Cook; both very capable Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

It was all a con.

Both vessels carry as many as 90 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM)– the majority of weapons used in the Friday evening strike on Syria — neither ship actually fired a shot. Instead, they were stalking horses, a distraction from an assault Assad’s government could do little to defend itself against.

It worked. Pentagon officials on Saturday said they faced little resistance to their targeted attack on what they said were three Syrian chemical weapons facilities. Most of the Syrian countermeasures, including defensive ballistic missiles, were fired after U.S. and allied weapons hit their targets, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters on Saturday.

“No Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did,” McKenzie said. He described the joint U.S., French and U.K. strike as “precise, overwhelming and effective.”

As the strategy of how to respond developed, Trump appeared to telegraph his intentions with a tweet on April 11: “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!”’ The Russians reacted by sortieing 11 warships from the Syrian port of Tartus.

Russian Ships Depart Tartus

In the White House, Trump met with military officials and made several calls to his French and British counterparts, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Theresa May. Trump was presented with five large target options for potential strikes. The president listened as Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps General Joe Dunford and other military leaders outlined the options.

Each potential target was discussed, and was determination was focused on limiting the risk of escalation by Russia. There was agreement among Trump’s top national security staff about conducting strikes, but debate about how hard to hit the Syrians. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was reportedly especially blunt in her assessment of the Syrian regime. In a private meeting with Trump and national security officials earlier in the week, Haley was a leading voice pushing for a robust military response to the chemical weapons attack on humanitarian grounds.

Chairman JCS General Dunford told reporters Friday that the U.S. sought targets that would limit any involvement with Russian military forces in Syria, and reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

With the allies on board and USS Winston Churchill arriving in the Mediterranean region, the attack was nearly under way. As the president addressed the nation at 9 p.m. Washington time on Friday, a barrage of 105 U.S., U.K. and French missiles converged on Syria. They came from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean, homing in from three directions to overwhelm whatever missile defenses Assad’s regime might deploy. Russia’s advanced air defense system didn’t engage the allied weapons.

“A perfectly executed strike last night,” Trump tweeted early Saturday. “Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, and two chemical weapons facilities outside the city of Homs, the US military said, though reports said the buildings had been evacuated in recent days.

Until next time…

Category: Syria