American Led Attack on Syria

13-Apr 2018: The United States, France, and Britain have attacked Syria with standoff weapons in response to what many believe was a chlorine gas attack in eastern Damascus suburb of Duma by the Syrian government. Russian air defenses in the north were avoided and no Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft were hit. Chlorine is a worldwide common industrial chemical (in high concentrations is poisonous). Over 100 US Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired. More detail emerging:

"Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie: "The cruiser USS Monterey fired 30 Tomahawks and the destroyer USS Laboon fired seven Tomahawks from the Red Sea. The destroyer USS Higgins fired 23 Tomahawks from the North Arabian Gulf, according to McKenzie. The weapons also included French SCALP-EG cruise missiles and British Storm Shadow standoff missiles launched by Tornado and Typhoon jets. Nine SCALP missiles were fired at what the Pentagon said was a chemical weapons storage complex at Hims-Shinshar, along with two SCALPS, nine Tomahawks, and eight Storm Shadows.

It is important to remember that had Russians launched 100 cruise missiles at say the Washington Mall in the continental United States as an example, the missiles also would have gone totally undetected until they had begun hitting their targets. Lest we forget the American postal worker that flew a high RCS very low-speed gyrocopter right through restricted airspace and landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol building - completely undetected by advanced American air defenses. This dramatically illustrates that even the United States is not immune from the terrain-masking flight profiles of cruise missiles.

14-Apr 2018: "Pentagon's LTG Frank McKenzie: 2 B1 bombers employed 19 standoff missiles. British Tornados and Typhoons fires 8 Stormshadow missiles. 

French Rafel and Mirage jets fired 9 Scout missiles: "overwhelmed Syrian air defense."

Western militaries are reporting all their stand-off weapons hit their targets, while Syrian and Russian reporting says 2/3 of Western standoff weapons were shot down - and this is the reason no Syrian aircraft, helicopters or air bases were hit. Time will tell who is right.

After the recent shootdown of an Isreali F-16I by Syrian air defenses, the truth might be a little of both. We will need to see good clear photos of wreckage to make a better assessment.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has now produced a very specific number of Western standoff weapons they claim were engaged and destroyed by Syrian Air Defenses. Russian MoD, claims Syrian air defense launched 112 SAM missiles during US missile strike. Claimed results were:

Pantsir-S1 - 25 targets engaged, 23 targets hit
Buk-M2E - 29 targets engaged, 24 targets hit
Osa - 11 targets engaged, 5 targets hit
S-125 - 13 targets engaged, 5 targets hit
Strela-10 - 5 targets engaged, 3 targets hit
Kvadrat - 21 targets engaged, 11 targets hits
S-200 - 8 targets engaged, 0 targets hit

We will be looking for some support for these claims in the coming weeks. To date, there has been no supporting evidence.

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