I have an important update: based on Russian sources, including video footage and the reports of one Russian journalist on the ground, Evgenii Poddubnyi, it has become clear that the US strike was largely symbolic. Here is the evidence:
- The Russians were given a warning which they, of course, passed on to the Syrians. The Americans must have assumed that this would happen.
- The Syrian airbase was lightly damaged: a few number of aircraft were damaged or destroyed, but many of these were in repairs and could not fly. Fuel storage tanks were destroyed. A number of aircraft bunkers were damage or destroyed. A few barracks were also destroyed.
- There were 6 or 7 casualties, which is very little.
- Crucially, the runways did not suffer.
Now here is the really intriguing thing: it appears that only 23 out of a total of 59 US cruise missiles hit the base. The rest are unaccounted for. This could be due to all sorts of reasons, including Syrian and Russian air defenses or Russian electronic warfare. I tend to believe that the latter is the cause. But then, this begs another question: why did the Russians let 23 of the cruise missiles through? Possibly to appease Trump and not force him to re-strike. Other possibility, to make sure that the political fallout from this stupid and reckless attack still come back to hurt the United States (had they destroyed all the cruise missiles this would not happen).
As for the Russian political reaction, I find it rather flaccid: Russia has condemned the attack and suspended the Memorandum of Understanding on Prevention of Flight Safety Incidents in the course of operations in Syria signed with the US.
Meh, I am rather unimpressed.
Here is the full Russian MoFA statement:
The United States conducted strikes against Syrian government troops in the early hours of April 7, using chemical weapons attacks in Idlib Province as a pretext.
The US opted for a show of force, for military action against a country fighting international terrorism without taking the trouble to get the facts straight.
It is not the first time that the US chooses an irresponsible approach that aggravates problems the world is facing, and threatens international security. The very presence of military personnel from the US and other countries in Syria without consent from the Syrian government or a UN Security Council mandate is an egregious and obvious violation of international law that cannot be justified. While previous initiatives of this kind were presented as efforts to combat terrorism, now they are clearly an act of aggression against a sovereign Syria. Actions undertaken by the US today inflict further damage to the Russia-US relations.
Russia has expressed on numerous occasions that it was ready to cooperate on resolving the most urgent issues the world is facing today, and that fighting international terrorism was a top priority. However, we will never agree to unsanctioned action against the legitimate Syrian government that has been waging an uncompromising war on international terrorism for a long time.
Seeking to justify military action Washington has totally distorted what had happened in Idlib. The US could not have failed to grasp the fact that the Syrian government troops did not use chemical weapons there. Damascus simply does not have them, as confirmed a number of times by qualified experts. This was the conclusion reached by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Over the recent years this organisation inspected almost all the facilities linked or possibly linked to Syria’s chemical weapons programme. As for Idlib, the terrorists operating there used to produce toxic land mines intended for use in Syria and Iraq. These manufacturing facilities were put out of operation in a military operation carried out by the Syrian air force.
The US pretends that it does not understand obvious things, turning a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq, officially confirmed by Baghdad. The US refuses to believe the evidence provided by certified documents confirming the use of chemical weapons by terrorists in Aleppo. In doing so, the US is abetting international terrorism and making it stronger. New WMD attacks can be expected.
There is no doubt that the military action by the US is an attempt to divert attention from the situation in Mosul, where the campaign carried out among others by US-led coalition has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and an escalating humanitarian disaster.
It is obvious that the cruise missile attack was prepared in advance. Any expert understands that Washington’s decision on air strikes predates the Idlib events, which simply served as a pretext for a show of force.
Russia suspends the Memorandum of Understanding on Prevention of Flight Safety Incidents in the course of operations in Syria signed with the US.
We call on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments.
Again, I am very underwhelmed to put it mildly.
I hope that the outrage inside Russia will force Lavrov to cancel his planned meeting with Tillerson. The usually sleepy Duma seems to be uncharacteristically outraged.
On a personal note, I will be gone all day and most of the week-end I will be attending Church services for the feasts of the Annunciation and the Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem.
You can expect an analysis by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
The Saker
PS: needless to say, no chemical weapons or chemical weapon storage facilities were damaged: we know that since NOBODY, including the Russian reporters, were even carrying, nevermind wearing, any gas masks or, even less so, full chemical protection suits. This is hardly surprising since, of course, they never existed in the first place.
PPS: just for the record, this attack was a direct and clear violation of
- US national law (Trump never got Congress to authorize this attack)
- International law (Trump is now a criminal guilty of the crime of ‘aggression’)
- The UN Charter
In other words, Trump is now a war criminal and the USA a rogue state (again).
The Saker was right in his second take on the ‘sneak attack’ by the Leader of the Free World.
http://theduran.com/bombed-sharyat-base-back-operation/
Unless there was some kind of mini-coup by the US miltary to sabotage most of the 59 Tomahawks and redirect the 23 to a few sacrificial targets, the whole thing was theatre designed to appease Neocons and puff up Trump’s warrior bully-boy credentials without actually causing a real war with Russia.
Other technical possibilities are that the Tomahawks are unreliable and useless, which I doubt, or that Russia/Syria electronically neutered the guidance systems on 36 cruise missiles. The 23 remaining either avoided or failed to be affected or were allowed through to appease Trump and the Neocons so that further escalation was avoided.
If you can’t hit two 3,000 meter runways then stay home. The base was up and running 24 hours later as you say, and the larger picture is Hama and possibly the Israeli pipeline -and the pursuit of manifest destiny, global hegemony and the ‘indispensible nation’.
How does it feel to be ‘dispensible’ and disposable?
Or truly deplorable and irredeemable?
Congratulations Russia: you have excellent electronic defense system. This is the message Nato hawks learnt in 7th of April 2017. For me this is vital.
Anyone asking Lavrov to call off the meeting with Tillerson is basically acting as a de facto agent of the British perpetual war strategy and really needs think a bit. This is exactly the aim of this whole fiasco.
Trump was given bogus intelligence, pushed by fifth columnist Kushner and the globalist sedition faction seeking to destroy Trump….Trump’s character traits were exploited. With the attack upon Flynn, the capability to drain the CIA traitors has been hampered.
Here is from LaRouche:
FRAUD AGAINST THE PRESIDENT; FRAUD AGAINST THE NATION
In reviewing the Syria bombing ordered by President Donald
J. Trump yesterday, Lyndon and Helga LaRouche condemned it in the
strongest terms possible. President Trump received a fraudulent
briefing on the event itself, asserting that Bashar al-Assad was
responsible for a chemical weapons attack on his own population,
despite the fact that U.S. military forces on the ground in Syria
knew that the chemicals came from an Al-Qaeda base, as stated by
Russia and Syria. President Trump was lied to by individuals in
his national security/intelligence chain of command.
The sources utilized to claim Syrian culpability for the
attack are exclusively British, the same people who are
coordinating the international attack on Trump’s Presidency, in
an effort to destroy any positive potential for relationships
with Russia and China to rebuild the U.S. and world economy. This
was a violation of international law. Trump was set up. “The
British set this in motion against the entire human race,” Lyndon
LaRouche emphasized.
LaRouche said that Trump must immediately seek out those
responsible for the fraud and fire them. A United Nations
investigation of the incident must occur immediately. Following
both, a war crimes prosecution would be appropriate. The
President should never listen to the British. It is not
accidental that this setup occurred right when the President was
meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping — a meeting which has
the British and their Wall Street allies completely apoplectic —
a meeting which could portend a new and peaceful paradigm for
economic and scientific progress.
LaRouche PAC is coordinating a national mobilization against
this fraud, telling the President to fire those responsible, and
return to the sound American System premises of his Presidency,
not the World War III policies of Barack Obama and Hillary
Clinton. Nothing less than the continued viability of his
presidency is at stake. We are also demanding that the United
Nations immediately investigate.
According to numerous intelligence community sources who
have commented or who have been interviewed by LaRouche PAC,
active duty U.S. forces on the ground in Syria knew that this was
not a Syrian government chemical attack. The Syrians hit an
Al-Qaeda base which was storing chemical weapons used by the
terrorists. U.S. forces on the ground reported that it was not a
Syrian chemical weapons attack up the chain of command. The
United States had been notified of the Syrian mission before it
took place and knew about the Syrian targeting. Someone either
deliberately lied to the President about this information or kept
it from him.
The on-the-ground intelligence purporting to document a
chemical weapons attack by the Syrian Air Force came from the
White Helmets group, created by the British, financed by the
British Defense Ministry, and totally penetrated by and
supporting ISIS and Al Nusra terrorists. The other cited “proof”
comes from the Syrian Human Rights Observatory which consists of
a single individual, residing in London, who is notorious for
widely disseminating inaccurate information.
The President needs to hear from those who voted for him and
other patriots who are not interested in World War III or
perpetual war in the Middle East. The swamp which needs draining
is the Wall Street/London/Washington D.C. neo-conservative,
liberal interventionist swamp which has squandered the nations
wealth, and involved our youth in fraudulent wars destroying the
morale of an entire generation. Mr. President, find, fire, and
prosecute those responsible for this.
Call the White House at 202-456-1111 which is the comment
line, or call them directly at 202-456-1414. You can write a
message to the White House at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
You can twitter the President at
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump.
I have newfound respect for Larouche. Not that I ever did not respect him.
Thank you for this post. I will call the fucking Shitehouse. And then afterwards, have a shower.
“Trump was set up.” – if that is the case – yet again – he must be naive like a newborn baby, but the reality looks even worse : Trump is the supreme commander of the US army and has all the motives to take the time and make a balanced thinking and accordingly, judgement and decision. He did that not ! even more, the speed of this decision is the very proof that he hasn’t even examined the facts.
We all know that he is a business man and had no political experience at all – even more so, had no or very little clue about world politics – but he acted so fast in the shadow of his own words, promises given before his inauguration : ” we will not be the world police ” and “we will be an example for the world ” – sure, this latest is already assured (sic).
Hi ioan … here is another view by Thierry Meyssan …more complex that just ‘stupidity’
http://www.voltairenet.org/article195904.html mod-hs
Thanks mod-hs for the link, so, we will have to wait and see the next step. Is getting even more hot and interesting by day.
The comment line and phone number to the White House are M-F evidently.
So I sent a scathing, scolding email asking the President if he was a merely a dupe of the globalists and satanists of the British Empire that routinely rape and murder children and think killing 500,000 of them in Iraq was “worth it” or if he was really one of them all along.
I started saying it was his Bay of Pigs moment and he was lied to, and he better start firing people.
And that I voted for him.
The last word of the message, of course, was SAD!!!
There are a few comments about the probability of an “arrangement” between the US and Russia, regarding the Syrian airfield bombings. In my opinion, that is ridiculous, the stakes are too high, why should Russia risk her credibility in such a dubious way, mainly just to give the Empire yet again a new blank card, as if this will stop them to pursue their agenda. The tough words used at the UN Security Council were also just a joke, a play, a theater for the world ? I don’t think so, these words are there forever, written and registered. This attack was a clear reminder for Russia that thinks have not changed and I would not be surprised if a new pretext will be found to announce new sanctions against Russia. I rather think also, that this attack was a probe to test the waters, the US and NATO military can now read some information they need for the next stage. Even the Russians said that this attack has been prepared for a while. Or maybe do you think that Putin is rushing with open arms to embrace Trump after becoming a few snaps in the face after his inauguration ?
Ioan, I share your sentiments.
If this incident was “arranged” with Russia and she played along with it, I would find it very sickening especially given that the airstrikes led to the killing of innocent people.
Yup…agree
There was no arrangement with Russia.
Yup….I cannot see that VVP orthodox Christian, near Easter time, would wish to have on his conscience any possibility that hard fighting Syrians could be sacrificed by some “arrangement”…..and that usa could be trusted with keeping quiet about this……he would not wish to be suckered in to such hypocrisy,i t would be a trap that could be exposed for his own undoing.
I wish the world were a simple place where one nuclear superpower is a bad guy and another nuclear superpower is a good guy. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As I will explain below, both are bad guys and are in collusion at the expense of the rest of the world.
When the media tell you that one nuclear superpower bombs a country where another nuclear superpower deployed its troops, this behavior is extremely reckless bordering on crazy, if you take the story at face value. In reality, people at the top are not that stupid and reckless. They have families and they want to sleep well at night without the fear of a nuclear Armageddon. The reported news does not make sense, and you must assume that this news is disinformation.
All the major media are controlled by the deep state both in Russia and in the US. Because we are dealing with the most sophisticated propaganda machine in history, I would venture the proposition that the U.S. did not really strike any government targets inside Syria or the missiles were blanks. We are dealing with another well-coordinated piece of fake news or a harmless staged event, i.e. a psyop operation.
Why would the Western and Russian media report that the U.S. forces attacked Assad government when no such attack took place in reality (or the attack was completely harmless just for show)? The answer is: to strike fear into the hearts of the world-wide audience and to maintain the international tension. These are keys to growing the funding of the military-intelligence complex both in the U.S. and in Russia.
You may ask, why would the U.S. and Russian deep states try to create the illusion of another cold war and military tension between the two nuclear superpowers? See above.
Do we have evidence that the U.S. and Russian shadow governments remain friends behind the scenes? Yes. The American media never talk about serious issues in Russia: the false flag attacks organized by Putin in 1999 in Moscow and Moscow region. Russia is one of the biggest merchants of death, i.e., weapons manufacturers, in the world. I have no doubt that Russian intelligence agencies have a hand in and foment most of the existing regional conflicts, in cooperation with their American colleagues. Weapons sales must grow.
Vladimir Putin, despite being supposedly vilified and attacked economically by the U.S. government, never criticizes the U.S. government seriously. He resolutely confirms the Apollo Moon landings, and Russian media confirm every other hoax coming out of NASA. Putin never talks about what really happened on 9/11, even though he has access to the most detailed and valid proof that this was a false flag staged by the American deep state.
In conclusion, there is no tension between the deep states of Russia and USA. FSB and CIA are friends who pretend to be enemies to each other’s benefit. The pretend cold war is very profitable to the military-industrial complexes of Russia and America. We can relax, there won’t be WWIII any time soon.
This is now a common story, but it’s a way too convenient one leaving out a host of factors and forces, and with rather shaky assumptions. Everything is not a false flag, conspiracy, or clever plan, and humans are not generally not nearly as smart, sane, or competent as such narrative depend on.
You are correct that the world is not a simple place, but it is far more complex than your explanation implies.
Beyond words… our puppet politicians say:
‘Syria blatantly defiant because she is back using the missile damaged airport and running sorties’
plus ‘Russia also shares responsibility for chemical attack’
plus ‘Russia has to desculate the situation’
crazy inverted stuff… so all Russia’s fault
Here is another take on it:
The Impending Clash Between the U.S. and Russia by Mike Whitney
Saturday evening, Mike Cernovich, who, last week, broke the Susan Rice unmasking story, dropped what he contends is a far more important story::
H. R. McMaster Manipulating Intelligence Reports to Trump, Wants 150,000 Ground Soldiers in Syria
McMaster Plan for 150,000 American Troops in Syria
I tend to believe this strike was in retaliation for shooting down the Israeli plane.
Apparently Syrian air defenses shooting down Tomahawks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CKAC_omShM