Analyst says smart bombs best weapon against Assad

Option Trump picked is less risky but less effective

WASHINGTON To hit Bashar Assad’s military in Syria where it hurts, bomb his helicopters, supply depots and anti- aircraft missile defenses.

That’s the assessment of Scott Murray, who from 2013 to 2015 was in charge of intelligence for the Air Force in the Middle East. And strike them with bombs, big ones, not with Tomahawk cruise missiles, if you want to leave a mark.

“The problem with Tomahawks is their small warhead- explosive yield,” said Murray, a retired colonel and career intelligence officer. “They’re precise but lack a bigger bang for the efforts required to get them to a target successfully.

“Manned aircraft with 2,000pound JDAMs ( joint direct attack munitions, or so- called smart bombs) would have laid waste to those aircraft bunkers we’re seeing on footage. There’s a hole in the top and damage inside but they can be repaired.”

As always, there is a trade- off: A pilot has to fly a smart bomb through Syria’s air defenses to reach the target. Or those air defense systems need to be degraded or destroyed first, dangerous but doable for U. S. forces. Either way, it’s a more intense mission, one fraught with more risk.

A senior military officer acknowledged as much Friday. The land- attack Tomahawk missiles, launched from the USS Porter and Ross in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, represented the lowest- risk option for military punishment that President Trump had to choose from. Manned flights were considered too risky, the officer said, adding that the military did not want to go into harm’s way. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, because the officials were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Tomahawks were not powerful enough to puncture the runway, a fact that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to on Friday. Instead, the missiles targeted fueling facilities, hangars, planes and other support infrastructure.

“Those were the targets,” he said. “The fact that planes are landing in and out of there, they’re not refueling, and they’re not able to initiate any activity.”

Dealing Assad’s forces a more powerful blow will require riskier missions that include hitting aircraft that have been dropping lethal “barrel bombs” on civilian targets, Murray said.

“Manned aircraft with 2,000pound JDAMs would have laid waste to those aircraft bunkers.” Scott Murray, retired Air Force colonel

AP Syrian President Bashar Assad has led a brutal war against rebels in his country.