SMACK ON THE NOSE
Planes destroyed inside bunkers — from more than 10 0 miles away
Friday's airstrike against Syria destroyed 20 jets with pinpoint accuracy — sending a message to dictator Bashar al-Assad after his use of chemical weapons. But wil l P re s i dent Trump's warning stick?
The barrage of missiles that rained down on Syria early Friday devastated a military airfield with pinpoint precision — destroying at least 20 jets, along with fuel stations and hangars, officials said.
“Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat airfield, reducing the Syrian government’s ability to deliver chemical weapons,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
President Trump ordered the assault at about 4 p.m. Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla., after several discussions about how the US should respond to the chemical attack in Syria that killed more than 80 people, including women and children.
The strike was carried out later as he was having dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said.
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called the attack a “measured step” at a contentious emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday — and warned that further military action may be required.
“We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary,” she told the council.
“The US will no longer wait for [Syrian leader Bashar al-]Assad to use chemical weapons without consequences. Those days are over. Now we must move to a new phase, a drive towards a political solution.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the United States will impose new economic sanctions on Syria as another tactic to persuade the country to stop using chemical weapons.
“We view sanctions as being a very important tool,” he said at Trump’s Mar-aLago resort.
Early Friday, 59 Tomahawk missiles — which can travel around 1,000 miles — were launched at 3:40 a.m. Syria time from warships USS Porter and USS Ross in the Mediterranean Sea.
The missiles were preprogrammed to target specific sites using satellite technol- ogy, including the base’s control tower, ammunition bunkers, plane hangars, fuel depots and air-defense systems.
US officials said all but one of the 59 rockets struck their targets. And a human-rights group in the country said the air base was “almost completely destroyed” by the deluge of 1,000-pound warheads.
Satellite images released Friday showed widespread damage to the airfield, with scorched planes tucked inside hangars reinforced with concrete.
Syrian state media said six soldiers on the base and nine civilians living in nearby villages were killed during the attack.
The Russian military disputed the number of Syrian jets destroyed by the missiles — which cost about $1 million each — claiming only six MiG-23 aircraft that were being repaired had been affected, along with classrooms, a cafeteria and a warehouse, The Washington Post reported.
“Therefore, the military effect of the massive American missile strike on the Syrian air base was extremely small,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov.
It’s unclear how many aircraft the Syrian military currently has. Aviation news outlet Flightglobal puts the total number of operational aircraft in Syria at 201, while military site Global Firepower says there are as many as 461.
Despite the extensive damage to the airfield, Syrian warplanes were still able to take off from the base Friday and carried out airstrikes in nearby Homs, the Londonbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, according to Fox News.
The organization said two warplanes “took off from inside the Shayrat base, which is partially back in service, and struck targets near Palmyra.”
Syria was quick to condemn the missile strike, calling it a “blatant aggression.”
“This condemned American aggression confirms the continuation of the wrong American strategy and restricts the counterterrorist operation that the Syrian army is conducting,” the General Command of the Syrian military said.
Beyond the damage to the air base, the missile strike sent a pointed political message to Syria, warning President Assad that the use of chemical weapons won’t be tolerated, officials said.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment on Trump’s strategy in Syria going forward, saying, “He’s not going to telegraph his next move.”
He also wouldn’t definitively say whether Trump believes Assad should be removed from power, focusing instead of that country’s use of chemical weapons.
“First and foremost, the president believes that the Syrian government [and the] Assad regime should abide by the agreement they made not to use chemical weapons,” Spicer told reporters.
UN ambassadors for Russia and Syria condemned the attack during the Security Council meeting and insisted the United States was effectively aiding terrorist efforts.
“The United States . . . waged a barbaric flagrant act of aggression against a base of the Syrian Arab Air Force in the central area of the country using a number of missiles, which led to a number of martyrs, many injured, including women and children, and wide-ranging material damage,” Syrian Deputy UN Ambassador Mounzer Mounzer said.
“This is a flagrant violation of the charter of the United Nations, as well as all international norms and laws.”
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, also claimed US military action in Syria could lead to further “instability.”
“When you take your own path, this leads to horrible tragedies for countries in the region and the people living there,” he said. “It is not difficult to imagine how much the spirit of these terrorists have been raised after the support from Washington.”
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels praised the strike, asking that the United States continue to take action against the Assad regime.
“Hitting one air base is not enough; there are 26 air bases that target civilians,” tweeted Mohamed Allousha, a senior official in the Army of Islam faction.
“The whole world should save the Syrian people from the clutches of the killer Bashar and his aides.”