OF THE
TIMES
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis described Saturday's strikes on multiple targets in Syria as "harder" than those in 2017, but said that no further launches were planned for the moment.Russia has responded:
Specifying that more than twice as many weapons were fired as in April 2017, Mattis said that the aerial assault sought to "destroy the Syrian regime's chemical weapons research development and production capabilities."
The targets were described as a scientific research center in Damascus, and a pair of chemical storage facilities in close proximity to each other in Homs, a large city north of the Syrian capital.
"We were very precise and proportionate but at the same time it was a heavy strike," Mattis told reports.
Mattis added that the US, which has used manned aircraft to launch its missiles, had "gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties," while Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Joseph Dunford, who also took part in the briefing, said the Pentagon "specifically identified targets" to "mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved."
Dunford said "normal deconfliction channel was used to deconflict airspace" with Moscow, but that the US did not "coordinate targets" with Moscow.
The Russian Ambassador to the US has warned of "consequences" after the US and its allies launched a coordinated military action against Syria.Putin's response:
Russia feels threatened by the US decision to strike Syrian targets in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack in Douma on April 7, which Moscow believes was staged.
"A pre-designed scenario is being implemented. Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences," Anatoly Antonov said in a statement on Friday night. "All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris."
The US "specifically identified" targets to "mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved," Dunford said. "We used the normal deconfliction channel to deconflict airspace. We did not coordinate targets."
While Trump said that the purpose of the US actions is to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread, and use of chemical weapons," Antonov reminded that "the US - the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons - has no moral right to blame other countries."
The attack also comes just hours before experts from the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were scheduled to visit Douma on Saturday to determine whether chemical weapons had indeed been used there.
The US and its allies struck civil and military facilities in Syria, violating the UN Charter and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, responding to the American-French-British intervention in Syria.Update 2: Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei:
Washington launched "an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism," the statement from the president said. Putin stressed that the multi-national strikes were not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and were carried out "in violation of the UN Charter and principles of international law."
What's more, the current escalation of the Syrian crisis has "a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations." Yet, history will set things straight as "it has already found Washington responsible for massacres in Yugoslavia. In fact, by using force, Washington is only prompting a new wave of asylum-seekers from Syria and the whole region, according to the Russian leader.
Meanwhile, Russia is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies, the statement concluded.
"Attacking Syria is a crime. US president [Donald Trump], UK prime minister [Theresa May] and the president of France [Emmanuel Macron] are criminals," Khamenei said, as cited by Mehr News Agency.Update 3: The Syrian General Command reported only minor damage as a result of the strikes. SANA reports:
The supreme leader added that the attack will not result in any "benefits," recalling the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US-led attack is a "flagrant violation of international law" which "ignores the sovereignty of Syria," the statement released by Iran's Foreign Ministry said.
"The United States and its allies have no proof [that Syria is responsible for the Douma chemical attack] and, without even waiting for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to take a position, have carried out this military attack."
The US and its allies "are responsible for the regional consequences of this adventurist action," the statement added.
It added that the Syrian Air Defense systems confronted, with high competence, the missiles of the aggression and shot down most of them, meanwhile, some of the missiles hit one of the buildings of the Research Center in Barzzeh in Damascus, which includes an educational center and scientific laboratories, asserting that the damages were limited to material ones.According to the Russian Defense Ministry, out of 103 missiles launched, 71 were shut down by Syrian forces. No casualties reported so far, thanks in part to Russia's early warning:
Other missiles were forced to deviate from their tracks while they were targeting a military position near Homs as their explosions caused the injury of three civilians.
A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus said the Syrian government absorbed the attacks, adding that the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.Meanwhile, President Assad is off to work as usual:
"We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago," the official said.
According to Ziad Fadel:...Finally, and this is weird, there is no evidence of the French doing anything at all (go figure?). Oh, speaking of the French, it appears that they warned the Russians about what would happen. So, technically speaking, the US generals are being truthful when they say that they did not warn the Russian but just "deconflict". The French did all the warning for them.
- That considering that 71 out of 103 missiles were intercepted.
- That there were no Syrian (or Iranian or Russian) fatalities.
- That not a single airfield was hit.
- That the buildings destroyed were empty.
- That only Syrian air defense were used.
- That Russian air defenses were completely bypassed.
As for that pathetic scorecard, the Pentagon "spokesperson" said that they had noticed a 2000% increase of "Russian troll" activity over the past 24 hours.
No kidding!
I would think that completely destroying a non-existing Syria chemical warfare capability could even be called a "infinite success".
Let's wait for further details (a lot of pro-Syrian outlets did exaggerate the number of missiles shot down) but it appears that the AngloZionist went for the "least bad" option in terms of risk for our planet: a symbolic and completely useless "pretend strike". And for that I am personally grateful. Let's hope that, at least for a while, they need to establish their "indispensableness" will be satisfied.
The combined forces used 110 cruise missiles 71 of which were either intercepted and destroyed by Syria's Pantsir air defense systems or were electronically toppled by a force which will remain unmentioned. Only 39 cruise missiles reached any target, many of them falling harmlessly in the Syrian Desert.
The only targets hit were a scientific research facility in Barza which contained classrooms and laboratories. All material had been removed so that the Americans could claim falsely that they had destroyed a CW-related institution. Another building which the Americans were allowed to destroy was a military warehouse in Homs, at Misyaaf, which the Americans could not hit because all the missiles aimed at that target were electronically toppled. As the cruise missiles were being deflected, they exploded on the ground injuring 3 civilians. The NATO allies also fired 12 missiles at the Al-Dhumayr AB east of Damascus. Russian news says all 12 were downed by Soviet-era air defense systems.
Of the 110 cruise missiles fired, 14 of them were American Tomahawks. Most of the others were British and Fench. None of the British or French missiles hit any target. Complete failure and a lesson to the allies of the U.S.
An helicopter airbase near the Lebanese border was also struck. However, because the attack took place in the early hours, nobody was at the base and, conveniently, no aircraft were to be found.
"It's becoming absolutely clear that those in the West, who are hiding behind the humanitarian rhetoric and trying to justify their military presence in Syria with the need of defeating the jihadists, are on the same side as them [the terrorists], working towards dismembering the country."The Syrian foreign minister called the attack barbaric, saying it will only escalate the situation and threaten global security. Assad spoke with Rouhani, during which he said:
...the attack unites Syrians and increases Damascus's resolve to continue "fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the nation."China condemned the attack and called for restraint and dialogue, as well as an investigation into the alleged Douma attack.
Bashar Assad told his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, in a telephone conversation on Saturday that the joint attack against Syria came after the Western states realized they had lost control of the situation in the region and credibility in the conflict.
Rouhani, in turn, told Assad that Tehran will stand by Damascus, "expressing his confidence that this aggression would not weaken the determination of the Syrian people in its war against terrorism."
Syrian pro-government sources confirmed that at least three facilities of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) in Damascus were fully destroyed in the strike, including an educational center in Barzah district. However, the sources confirmed that all facilities that got hit were fully evacuated days prior to the strike.
...
A video released by the Syrian al-Akhbarya TV showed that the British missiles fall in empty land and civilian houses in the western Homs countryside. The failed British strike reportedly injured at least three civilians.
Comment: Oops, slight flaw in the Russia-did-it conspiracy theory there.
More from Fort Russ News: From the description of its effects, it sounds like a match for the Skripals' condition: 'temporarily put out of action'.
The Western media is deathly silent about this inconvenient fact.