Strike has limited impact on Assad
beirut — The US missile attack caused heavy damage to one of Syria’s biggest and most strategic air bases, used to launch warplanes to strike opposition-held areas throughout Syria.
Videos from inside the Shayrat air base showed fighter jets and hangars destroyed and runways pocked with holes after the strike in the pre-dawn hours on Friday. Still, the impact on President Bashar Assad’s military capabilities is limited: His air force has more than a dozen other bases from which to operate.
In fact, just hours after 59 US Tomahawk missiles hit the base southeast of the city of Homs, Syrian warplanes struck opposition targets in the north and south of the country, including one near the town of Khan Sheikhoun, where a chemical weapons attack Tuesday triggered the US missile strike.
The missiles —launched from the USS Ross and USS Porter warships deployed in the Mediterranean — targeted the base’s two airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition depots, US officials said. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said they destroyed six Syrian air force MiG-23 fighter jets that were undergoing repairs, but didn’t damage other warplanes at the base.
The Kremlin maintained only 23 of the 59 cruise missiles reached the base, leaving the runways intact. However, a US official said all but one of the 59 missiles struck their targets, hitting multiple aircraft and air shelters, and destroying the fuel area. The official, who was not authorized to discuss initial reports, spoke on condition of anonymity.
“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
I’m deeply concerned that these strikes could lead to the US once again being dragged back into the quagmire of long-term military engagement in the Middle East.
and intelligence publication Jane’s.
Col. Hassan Hamade, a Syrian pilot who defected in June 2012 when he landed his MiG-21 in Jordan, agreed. “The bombardment of Shayrat will not have a major effect on military operations of the regime,” said Hamade, speaking from Turkey. He said if only the tarmac was destroyed it can be fixed within hours, but if the communications system and the control tower were heavily damaged it will take weeks if not months.
No matter how extensive the damage at Shayrat, Assad has other options, Hamade said. There are 25 air bases in Syria, including 20 under government control. He said Shayrat is 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.
He said he expects the country’s third-most active, Saqqal air base, which is also located in central Syria, will fill the vacuum created by the destruction at Shayrat. Hamade said Iranian military advisers were active at the base, though it was not possible to independently confirm the claim. —