USA TODAY International Edition
Main U. S. targets in Syria are military sites
Missiles would not aim at chemical stockpiles
The expected U. S. missile strike against Syria would be aimed at forces linked to chemical weapons as well as broader military targets, according to defense analysts.
Broad command and control and artillery and missile launchers, which can fire conventional or chemical weapons, would likely be targeted, military analysts said.
The Pentagon would probably avoid targeting stockpiles, which could send toxic gases into the air and cause civilian casualties.
“We don’t want to hit actual chemical weapons because of the dangers,” said Jeffrey White, a defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Defense Intelligence Agency official.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that it is prepared to launch an attack if or- dered to do so by President Obama.
“We are ready to go,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
The Navy’s 6th Fleet has positioned four destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean, each capable of carrying up to 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles, though most carry fewer during normal deployments.
The Navy fired 212 Tomahawks during the bombing campaign that helped topple Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The United States has weapons that can penetrate thick walls and incinerate chemicals inside, said Ralf Trapp, a France- based expert in chemical weapons disarmament.
Even with specially designed munitions, however, cruise missiles are not a good way to strike chemical weapons because they are fired from miles away, military analysts say. “This gets risky if you are doing it long range with cruise missiles,” said Kenneth Pollack, a military analyst at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, a think tank.
The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has regularly moved its chemical stockpiles around, presumably to keep them out of rebel hands, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this month during a trip to the Middle East. “It’s a frequent occurrence.”
Even if the U. S. military does not go after stockpiles, it will probably try to target the specific units involved in carrying out the attacks if they can identify them, White said.
It’s not clear how much intelligence the United States has on the chemical attack a week ago outside Damascus.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the administration “will provide that information in the days ahead.” Both the Assad regime and rebel leaders deny using chemical weapons.
Pollack says the attack could have been carried out by a unit that was not firmly under Assad’s control. That would complicate the Obama administration’s effort to send a message of deterrence to Assad’s government. “Maybe some generals don’t respond to Assad.”
The administration will also examine why or if the use of chemical weapons was authorized. The attack occurred as government and rebel forces fought in the eastern suburbs of Damascus.
Commanders generally turn to chemical weapons when they want to terrorize a population and intimidate civilians into not supporting rebels, said Gregory Koblentz, a chemical weapons expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. “This is not really a military attack but part of psychological warfare,” he said.