Syrian air base bounces back quickly despite heavy U.S. barrage
The barrage of U.S. missiles slamming into a Syrian air base was far from enough to put the facility out of commission as advocates on the ground say President Bashar Assad defiantly flew two warplanes from the hobbled facility and launched a second strike on the town hit by this week’s brutal chemical attack.
A pair of Sukhoi fighter jets took off Friday from the Shayrat air base near Homs that President Trump unilaterally struck late Thursday with 59 cruise missiles in response to the Assad regime’s sarin attack, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The warplanes flew toward Homs to launch attacks on rebel groups there, the group said.
Trump responded to the surprising news that the base was operational in a tweet yesterday that said, “The reason you don’t generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!”
U.S. officials said the missiles — launched from warships deployed in the Mediterranean — targeted the base’s two airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition depots. Russian officials said the strike destroyed six Syrian air force MiG-23 jets that were undergoing repairs, but didn’t damage other warplanes at the base.
While the attack took a toll on the base, Assad’s air force could also shift operations to any of the 20 bases under government control.
Shayrat was the second-most active when it comes to take-offs and landings, superseded only by the Hemeimeem base operated by the Russian military in the coastal province of Latakia.
“Although the strike will further weaken the overall air defense and ground attack capabilities of the (Syrian air force), it will not significantly diminish the ability of the Assad regime to conduct further chemical weapons attacks,” wrote analyst Reed Foster of the defense and intelligence publication Jane’s.
Warplanes also yesterday struck the Syrian town where a chemical attack had killed scores of people this week.
The airstrikes on the opposition-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, where 87 people were killed in the chemical attack this week, killed a woman and wounded her son, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The U.S. strike was welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its main backers, including Turkey
and Saudi Arabia, but harshly condemned by Russia and Iran, who back Assad and said striking his forces would complicate the struggle against extremist groups.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. strike should be the start of a renewed effort to end the civil war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s population.