REACHING THE FLASHPOINT FOR AMERICA’S FIREPOWER
President Trump last night ordered a barrage of cruise missiles to destroy Shayrat Air Base, where Syrian jets launched this week’s deadly chemical attack on civilians. Here are key facts: — JUlES CriTTENdEN
Before dawn Tuesday, at least 80 men, women, children and infants were killed, and hundreds more injured by what is believed to be deadly sarin nerve gas in the Syrian rebel-controlled town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the district of Idlib. The U.S. is blaming Syrian jets armed with chemical weapons.
Wednesday, Trump said the attack crossed “a lot of lines” — a reference to former President Obama's notorious “red line” that he failed to act on after a Syrian chemical attack in 2013. Yesterday, Trump said, “I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity.”
Shayrat Air Base, near the city of Homs in central Syria, is home to a squadron of Russian-made MiG-23 fighters and Su-22 fighter bombers. U.S. officials said the attack launched from Shayrat.
The guided missile destroyers U.S.S. Porter and U.S.S. Ross launched scores of Tomahawk cruise missiles at 8:45 p.m. EDT yesterday.
The jet-engined Tomahawk missiles, made by Raytheon and McDonnell Douglas, cost more than $1.5 million each and fly low — just a few hundred feet high — to avoid radar detection before diving on their targets. They carry as much as 1,000 pounds of explosives and are capable of gutting buildings and destroying large numbers of aircraft, leaving massive craters.
The Syrian civil war has been underway for seven years, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and sending millions of refugees into neighboring countries and toward Europe while spawning the Islamic State, the terrorist group that morphed out of al-Qaeda. Dictator Bashar Assad is supported by Russia, which entered the war on a promise to end Assad's use of chemical weapons after Obama failed to act in 2013.
The U.S. risks finding itself in a proxy war with Syrian allies Russia and Iran. But Russia, apparently embarrassed by the attack, could provide leverage for a negotiated solution, warning yesterday its support for Assad is “not unconditional.”
The cruise missile attack allowed the U.S. to avoid destroying Russian air defense units in Syria, reducing the risk of retaliation. The U.S. has 1,000 troops in Syria fighting the Islamic State and another 6,000 in Iraq. Further heightening tension, Iran has as many as 100,000 troops in Syria supporting Assad.